Nearly 13 months ago we saw the debut of a very impressive colt at Newcastle by the name of Private Harry. After his 900m romp he progressed to a Provincial BM64, then a 3YO BM72 before tackling the Sunlight Stakes (slot race) at the Sunshine Coast in career start number four.
Did we see a similar mould of a horse last Wednesday? Strong Bloodstock look to have a very exciting 3YO talent in Ice Kool. The son of Zoustar was passed in at the 2024 Magic Millions sale with a reserve of $150k.
Ice Kool caught the eye with back-to-back smart trials this time in over the 815m and 900m trips before opening a dominant $2.00 favourite on debut. He was a slight drifter late, $1.90 out to $2.35, but that didn’t worry him at all. He led pillar to post and looked to have gears to give, winning by 3.46L in a flash.
The overall time and L600m time was the fastest of the two 1000m races, 56.31 / 33.06, breaking the class record in doing so. He also bettered the overall time of Swordplay’s win in race three – that horse looks black type and has since won again on the Gold Coast. The 1000m track record is 55.96; to get that close on debut is phenomenal.
From day one he’s given us that something special feeling and today Ice Kool proved it. 🧊 🐎
Debut win, class record broken, and a performance that justified all the anticipation.
A serious talent heading in the right direction. ❄️🏇@DavidPfieffer @widdenstud pic.twitter.com/KlkCzICxXt— Strong Bloodstock (@StrongBldStock) December 3, 2025
To back up what the eye and times said, Dan O’Sullivan’s TopRate ratings returned a weight-for-age figure of 95.0. That is about as good as you can go and be in a 3YO Maiden at the midweeks and suggests off the bat he’s black type.
Now the question is, where to next? I had the pleasure of speaking to one half of Strong Bloodstock, John Armstrong. He’ll go around this Saturday in a BM72 Handicap at Randwick before weighing up their options. Blake suggested the dream is to get him to the $3m Magic Millions Sunlight 3YO Plate over 1100m on the 10th of January – the same race Private Harry won last year. The race is six days later this year which will definitely help, but as John suggested to me, they’ll see how he performs on Saturday and take it day by day with the exciting colt.
With a lack of depth in our sprinting ranks, I’d love to see this gelding progress right the way through the top-end races come the spring next year.
