Icepin proves a cool customer

Exciting two-year-old Icepin will get the chance to again show her liking for the Ellerslie track when tackling the $200,000 Diamond Stakes (1200m) next month.

Icepin will be aimed at the group one feature for first-season gallopers after the Pins gelding overcame a wide barrier draw to score an all-the-way victory in the Group Three Waikato Stud 2YO Classic (1200m) at New Plymouth on Saturday.

"He's got a pretty good record at Ellerslie," trainer Mark Walker, of Matamata, said.

He was referring to Icepin having registered his maiden success on the Auckland course early last month and a good second behind Aussie-trained raider Sister Havana in the $1m Karaka Million at his next start.

Following the Diamond Stakes, Walker said the obvious option for Icepin would be the other group one race for two-year-olds, the $200,000 Ford Dealer Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Awapuni on April 3.

"You've just got to see how they pull up first. You don't want to make too many plans before you see how they come through each race," Walker said.

Following pre-race instructions to the letter on Saturday, Lisa Allpress sent Icepin forward from the No 8 barrier to lead and the combination was never headed.

Icepin showed plenty of courage to fight off some strong challenges on his way to clocking a slick one minute 10.42 seconds for the 1200 metres.

Walker praised Allpress' ride on Icepin after picking up the mount after Sam Spratt, who had ridden the horse in the previous three of his four lifetime starts, decided to ride at Ellerslie on Saturday.

"[Icepin] doesn't have to lead, but I said to Lisa be pretty positive on him and she was. It was a nice cunning sort of ride. She's in good form, Lisa, and she's fit and I think riding the best of her career."

While it has yet to be decided, there are no doubts Allpress will be putting her case to retain the ride.

Icepin is raced by 79-year-old Waikato racing identity Herbie Dyke, of Hamilton, who couldn't make it to the races on Saturday because of a bout of the flu. "He's got the bot and he rang me this morning and said he was feeling a bit off colour and was not going," said Icepin's breeder and race sponsor Garry Chittick.

Chittick recalled Dyke tossed a coin with him when buying the horse at a discounted price as a yearling. "We had a reserve on him of $50,000. He had a slight X-ray issue and all the experts wouldn't touch him, so Herbie came along and tossed me for $10,000 and got him for $40,000," Chittick said.

"It's a great story for him and good on him, he's done a lot for racing and has spent a lot of money with us over the years. In the last four years I would say he's spent over $800,000 on buying Waikato Stud horses, but he's had a fantastic result.

"This horse now would have a market value of at least $800,000.

"He's a lovely cut of a horse. He looks like a three-year-old even now."

Icepin is the third foal of the deceased mare Ice Maiden, by O'Reilly, and all have been winners. Fiozone is racing out of a Brisbane stable and the winner of four races, while Pins on Ice, a full brother to Icepin, is also a winner.

Chasing Icepin home and finishing stoutly once he got into the clear was Charma, who was half a length away at the line. Race favourite Cellarmaster, trapped wide in the running and knocked sideways in the run home, was not disgraced a further half length away third.

- © Fairfax NZ News