Trainer David Pfieffer believes Ice Kool has done enough to warrant his shot at Saturday night’s $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight Plate (1100m) at the Gold Coast.
The three-year-old slot race, which was claimed by eventual Group 1 winner Private Harry in its inaugural edition, will again feature a capacity field of 12, with Ice Kool set to jump from barrier nine.
After saluting by 3½ lengths on debut at Warwick Farm on December 3, Ice Kool was quickly elevated to Benchmark 72 grade and again showed sharp speed when winning at Randwick on December 27.
Racing under Max Whitby’s slot, Ice Kool arrives off a slightly tighter turnaround, which Pfieffer believes is a positive.
“He’s going to go into this race probably better prepared than last start,” Pfieffer said.
“Last start, he was three and a half weeks between runs. And so now, he’s going into it two weeks between runs, and it hopefully should suit him really well.
“He had a quiet week last week, had a gallop on Saturday with Jason (Collett) on board and had his final gallop Tuesday morning.
“He’ll get on a truck Thursday night and head to Queensland.”
Pfieffer admitted Ice Kool had to significantly raise the bar at his second start to earn a place in the Sunlight Plate field.
“He’d done a few little things wrong, and he still does a few little things wrong, but he’s getting better every trial, getting better every race start,” Pfieffer said.
“To get a slot, you’ve obviously got to prove yourself. Throwing him in a Saturday race was obviously a big step, but he stepped up to the plate.
“If he hadn’t got the job done, well, he doesn’t get a slot in this race. If he didn’t achieve that goal, well, we wouldn’t be talking now, would we?”
While Ice Kool has led in both starts to date, Pfieffer is hoping a strong tempo from wider-drawn rivals Swordplay and North England creates the right scenario.
“He can be slow out, which he has been his last two starts,” Pfieffer noted.
“He’s not lightning out of the gates, like Swordplay is going to, it’ll launch out of the gates, so that might just create that hole in behind them.”
Markets are open with leading online bookmakers for the Magic Millions Sunlight Plate, offering punters a wide range of wagering options.
Ice Kool sits as a $4.50 second favourite behind the Kelly Schweida-trained Grafterburners ($2.80), who is unbeaten in three runs this campaign and has drawn ideally in barrier two.
The post Ice to stay Kool in Magic Millions Sunlight first appeared on Just Horse Racing.
