He’s experienced fantastic success with his Scared Falls mare Icebath winning in excess of $3.7 million and counting, but Hawkesbury-based trainer Brad Widdup has another ‘Ice’ in his stables in the well-travelled campaigner Icecrusher.
After starting her racing career in Perth, Icecrusher had a stint in Kalgoorlie before heading to Shayne Cahill in Adelaide. The seven-year-old mare was then relocated to Widdup’s operation halfway through last year and has shown some ability in her four local starts to date.
Following two handy runs on the Kensington surface, Icecrusher failed at Wyong before being tipped out for a spell. She has since resumed in good order with a close-up second at Warwick Farm over 1400m in testing conditions. The daughter of Frost Giant will take the step-up to the mile in the Midway at Royal Randwick this weekend.
“Last year Shayne Cahill sent her up to run around Sydney to see if she was up to it,” Widdup said.
“She did a pretty good job and the owners wanted to keep her up here.
“I think she’s very fit and a bit of rain around will probably help her too.
“She’s a back marker and will need a bit of luck but she seems to be going very well.”
Widdup also has his promising Written Tycoon mare Tycoon Hallie nominated for the Midway, as well as the Benchmark 78, with the four-year-old looking to add another win to the tally after a string of minor placings.
“I’m leaning towards the Midway I’d say, but we may accept in both and see how it plays out,” Widdup said.
“I wouldn’t say she’s been unlucky, but just her pattern of racing goes against her.
“I’m putting blinkers on her for Saturday and they’ve seemed to have sharpened her up a little bit. Hopefully they’ll do the trick.”
Widdup is grateful for what the $100,000 Midway offers the qualifying provincial trainers, but sees it as being necessary to keeping all regions of racing ticking along.
“With a lot of these horses you’d normally be aiming at a midweek metro race or Saturday provincial. Now you’ve actually got a Saturday race in town to aim at,” Widdup said.
“We’re in a boom time at the moment, the prize money is excellent. But I think the provincial areas have been overlooked a fair bit.
“You’ve got a country race every Saturday (the Highway), you’ve got the Kosciuszko, the Country Championships, there’s a lot of upside to being a country trainer now. And obviously as a metropolitan trainer it’s easier to attract clientele.
“(The Midway) just gives us a chance to hold onto these horses a bit longer.”
As for his star mare Icebath and her shot at the lucrative All Star Mile to be held at Flemington on March 19, Widdup is willing to go with the flow.
“I’m happy to keep her here in Sydney, but I’ve got a couple of clients in Melbourne,” Widdup said.
“It’s a $5 million race, that’s a lot of prize money. If we get into the race we’ll be definitely going.”
Icebath is currently rated a $21 chance for the All Star Mile in All-In betting with the TAB.
