Ice Cool Harry, in Jeff Smith's colours, proved a very ready winner at Wolverhampton last Friday (9th February), with a hands and heels ride he showed us his class and ability to win on the bridle. I'm sure this will buy his confidence a big round of applause.
A round of applause was also needed on the day for Rossa Ryan, who gave the horse a tremendous ride despite the gelding being less than easy with his approach to this race. As one who is never far off the pace, Ice Cool Harry is a big galloping horse that competes keenly, so his racing playbook suggests we don’t expose him to daylight too early on. Although he can be tricky to settle at times, the coverage gained from the field is favourable and allows him to intentionally gather momentum furlong to furlong, in a bid to approach closing stages with a smart turn of foot.
We were really pleased to see tactics unfold to his advantage with this performance, running strongly tucked behind as a backmarker before making his move on the turn from home. The final furlong did present some difficulties however, as we saw him awkwardly hang left and lean into his rivals, but an active ride from Rossa helped him to stay on consistently, excelling with both power and pace.
Looking ahead, it would be great to translate his all-weather form onto the turf later this season, but for now we will continue building progress behind the scenes and consider his next entry.
