ICEBATH GETS ANOTHER CHANCE FOR GROUP 1 GLORY

SUNDAY: April 3, 2022: TRIPLE Group 1 placegetter Icebath will get another chance at Royal Randwick on Saturday to add an overdue victory at racing’s highest level to her record.

And most likely it will be against her own sex in the $1m Coolmore Legacy Stakes (1600m) rather than the $4m Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) against all-comers.

Both races will be run at weight-for-age.

Icebath sent her earnings beyond $4m with an excellent third behind Victorian visitors Mr Brightside and I’m Thunderstruck in yesterday’s $3m Group 1 Doncaster Mile at Randwick on the opening day of The Championships.

It was her second consecutive Doncaster Mile placing along with a narrow defeat in the Group 1 Cantala Stakes (1600m) at Flemington last spring, along with another photo-finish loss in the $7.5m Golden Eagle at Rosehill Gardens in November, 2020.

“I’m very proud of Icebath, but it’s frustrating not to get that Group 1 with her,” trainer Brad Widdup said today.

“She has pulled up so well from yesterday’s race, and was as bright as a button this morning.

“It’s unbelievable really, but she gets better deeper into her preparation (the Doncaster was her fourth start this campaign).

“I will talk with the owners later today, but it’s more likely she will run against her sex .

“If she had already won a Group 1, then it might have been different in regard to the Queen Elizabeth, which is going to be a great race.”

Icebath won the inaugural $2m The Invitation (1400m) against her own sex at Randwick last October before being pipped by Superstorm in the Cantala Stakes at Flemington a week later.

Kerrin McEvoy, who won The Invitation on Icebath and was to have ridden her in the Doncaster yesterday before pulling the pin on the meeting and altering a suspension incurred at Newcastle last Monday, goes back on the mare in the Coolmore Legacy.

Icebath’s Doncaster third was worth $295,000, lifting her career earnings to $4,149,640.

. Widdup made it 38 wins for the season when lightly-raced three-year-old Global Ausbred broke through at yesterday’s Goulburn meeting (transferred from Kembla Grange).

Having only his fourth start, Global Ausbred ($13), ridden by Grant Buckley, was strong through the line, defeating Funambulist ($5) and $1.65 favorite Nautical Miss in the Maiden Plate (1500m).

The Maurice three-year-old is raced by his breeders Chris and Lyn Lawlor (International Animal Health Products), and his trainer believes there are better things to come.

“Global Ausbred is a good type, but has had growing pains and we have been patient with him,” Widdup said.

“Whilst he raced only twice as a two-year-old, he did plenty of pre-training before coming back into work this time and yesterday was having his second run back.

“I’ve got no doubt he will continue to improve as his distances are increased.”

Global Ausbred’s dam, the now deceased Volksraad mare Ponte Piccolo, raced only eight times for three wins and as many seconds.

She won the Kembla Grange Classic (1600m) in 2005 as a three-year-old before finishing second in the Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Randwick, and also that season won the Doomben Bracelet (2050m).

Her third foal was Able Friend (by Shamardal), who began his career in Sydney and won at Wyong in November, 2012 before being transferred to Hong Kong, where he became a multiple Group 1 winner.