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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Brad Widdup can only hope that elusive Group 1 win comes Icebath’s way this year but before chasing that omission from her CV he’s hoping the mare can claim some big scalps first-up at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Brad Widdup

Sure, Icebath has another wide gate to deal with in the Group 2 $250,000 The Agency Apollo Stakes (1400m) but that’s nothing new to her.

The Hawkesbury trainer said Icebath, who has trialled twice, is more forward this time around for her first-up run given she’s taking on weight-for-age and 1400m fresh for the first time.

“Every preparation she’s come back in better, she’s bouncing and she should be nice and ready to go,’’ he said.

“We’re throwing her in, I wouldn’t say the deep end now, an Apollo Stakes weight-for-age first-up over 1400m. I think it’s a better option than 1200m carrying 59kg.

“I’ve been mindful this time through that she has to be up to the mark. I’m looking forward to seeing what she will do.”

The five-year-old, $13 with TAB on Friday, opened last spring with a close third behind Private Eye in the Group 3 Show County (1200m) at Randwick after a wide run.

She wasn’t beaten far in her next three starts, including a luckless run in the Epsom, before snagging the lion’s share of the inaugural $2m The Invitation with a big finish over the Apollo Stakes course.

Another narrow Group 1 defeat ended her spring in Melbourne and Widdup has two majors he feels are realistic during The Star Championships and another that would actually be deep ending her and it’s up to the mare to prove she warrants it.

Revenge in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile is the major aim, after her last stride defeat to Cascadian in 2021, and the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf (1600m) is the autumn back-up plan.

It’s likely that the Coolmore Classic, over the Golden Eagle course of 1500m at Rosehill, is a Group 1 he’ll miss given the handicap conditions against mares.

But if she does win a Doncaster, then Widdup will likely have a shot at the $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2000m.

“The owners and myself would love to try 2000m and another big ask will be the Queen Elizabeth if we do,’’ he said.

“She’d have to be going well but there’s a good back up race (Queen Of The Turf). It’s a bit like The Invitation, I know it is there and I will probably go that way but we have to look at other things too.

“If she wins one of those decent races on the way through it’s going to be hard for me to say to the owners we shouldn't take the Queen Elizabeth option.”

Icebath has always been something of the underdog, the underestimated and was once pigeonholed as a wet tracker. But all six starts in the spring were on good tracks.

She’s closing in on $4 million in prizemoney and is far from finished yet.

“The prizemoney she’s won is unbelievable. You had to have a champion to win that sort of money a few years ago,’’ he said.

“It’s not like I’ve shied away. Normally the first couple of runs I go softly where I place her but from then on she’s always taken on pretty solid races.

Icebath wins the Invitation at Randwick on October 23

“For a while there people were thinking she’s not up to these horses but I think she’s proven it now. She keeps raising the bar as we push her and I’m sure she’s up to it this time through.”

The plan for second-up is the Group 2 Guy Walter Stakes (1400m) before Widdup plans his next move.

Meanwhile, it seems likely Widdup won’t be a major player in the $1.55m Polytrack Provincial-Midway Championships series which starts on February 24.

He said the likes of Queen Bellissimo and Calgary Queen could show up in the 1200m heat at Gosford next month but he does have doubts about their effectiveness at the Randwick 1400m of the Final.

“There’s a couple there but they are probably not solid 1400m horses,’’ he said.

“I’d love to support it if I can but the last couple of years I’ve been rebuilding, the mares are probably best at 1200m or 1300m max but I’ll probably have a throw at the stumps with one of them.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's meeting at Royal Randwick