Charge Account cheats death to return to track Tough customer: Charge Account wins at Warwick Farm in February. Australian Turf Club chairman John Cornish knows Charge Account shouldn't be racing at Royal Randwick on Saturday - he probably shouldn't be alive. But the son of Charge Forward is more than a racehorse, he has been an inspiration as well as a fighter and an odds-defier. "This horse has meant so much to my family, and he gave my wife Pam a reason to get to the races when she was battling cancer," Cornish said. He got her off her sickbed on a couple of occasions just to see him run. It's just great to have him back. Pam Cornish is in remission from cancer and will be at Randwick for the return of Charge Account, which has won his own battle for life. The four-year-old gelding has been favourite at all of his five starts, such is his talent, and has twice saluted. He has drawn four in the 1100-metre last race on Saturday. "He has been disqualified when the jockey weighed in light and wasn't well at his last start," Cornish said, filling in some of the blanks. But the biggest blank is the past 10 months after the horse ran second-last in the Fireball Quality at Rosehill on March 2. "After that he ended up in hospital [after a severe reaction to medication] for seven weeks and lost 113 kilos," Cornish said. It's a miracle he's still here at all. The vet told us at one point he was a 20 per cent chance of surviving, and you-know-what chance of getting back to the races and winning. But Charge Account went back to Cornish's Torryburn Stud and was nursed back to health. The staff did a wonderful job. It was still touch and go when he got home," he said. They were hand-feeding him eight times a day for more than a month. It was a sweet feed made up with syrup to start with, and it took time for him to turn the corner. Once he did, a couple of pounds a day would come back on. He went past his old weight, which was a great sign, and eventually we thought he might be up to a [racing] preparation. Michael Robinson was Charge Account's vet, and he works with trainer David Vandyke, who has taken over preparing him. "It's been a long process and it took a bit of time to get some muscle tone back on him," Vandyke said. We got him to the trials, and he was able to win both of them, which is encouraging. At his most recent barrier trial, Charge Account looked unextended as he took care of Ecuador, and he is favourite once again for his return. But just when things appeared to be turning, the bad luck around Charge Account has extended to jockeys in the past month. Blake Shinn, who has done all the work on Charge Account and rode him in his trials, is suspended as the horse makes his return. Peter Robl replaced him for the final workouts before Saturday, but he is out after a nasty fall at Scone on Thursday and has been replaced by Jay Ford. "Jay and I have had success this season and I'm sure he will do the job," Vandyke said. I'm trying not to expect too much of him, but I think he will run well.