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The racing industry is mourning the passing of former Central Districts and Western Racing Association starter, Ray ‘Icy’ Canham.

Almost universally known as Icy, Ray Canham started races across the CDWRA for over two decades - including over a decade at Dubbo.

Ray 'Icy' Canham (Pic: Janian McMillan)

In 1966 as a 15-year-old, Canham was plucked from the crowd at a race meeting to have his first ride in a race and later was indentured to Coonamble trainer John Lundholm for two years before his battle with weight took a hold. Canham then turned his hand to shearing in the late 1960’s before making a comeback to race riding in the 1970s.

With well over a hundred winners to his name during his riding career, a serious fall at Gilgandra in the 1980s left Canham with a broken leg that ultimately curtailed his time in the saddle.

Soon after Canham took up his role with the then Western Racing Association and began his tenure as the region's starter, which saw him start tens of thousands of races across New South Wales in a career that spanned more than 30 years.

A member of the Coonamble Nickname Hall of Fame, he took his unique moniker from a childhood meeting with an errant pony named ‘Ice Cream’ at a local rodeo.

Canham was the only child to tame the pony and from then on was known as Icy, or Ice Cream.

Possessing an extremely dry wit and cheeky laugh, Canham was a keen fisherman and yabbie trapper and held the unofficial record for the most stubbies drunk on the return trip from Carinda races to his home in Coonamble.

Icy retired from race starting in 2018 and will be forever remembered as a true gentleman and legend of racing in western New South Wales.