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Craig Kerry
June 4, 2026 — 5:00pm
Ice Kool has had only three starts but Warwick Farm trainer David Pfieffer believes the three-year-old is getting up there with the best sprinters he has trained.
Pfieffer now hopes the Zoustar gelding can deliver in his second campaign, starting at Randwick on Saturday, as he looks to spring targets in Melbourne.
Ice Kool blitzed his rivals in a Warwick Farm super maiden on debut before stepping up to Saturday grade for a half-length win at Randwick in December.
It was more than enough to earn a spot in the $3 million Magic Millions 3YO Sunlight slot race on the Gold Coast, where he finished five and a half lengths away in seventh.
Ice Kool returns in the benchmark 78 handicap over 1000m, the sixth on Saturday, after Pfieffer scratched him last week because of the heavy Rosehill track. Jay Ford has the ride on the $2.50 favourite from gate seven.
“We didn’t want to go first-up on a bottomless track and I think we pulled the right rein,” Pfieffer said.
“We’ve got a nice gate, big field, but it looks like a nice race for him to start off with. He’s got a bit of weight relief there. He’s trialled well, he’s worked good, he’s in good order.”
Pfieffer has no lofty targets in mind for Ice Kool this preparation, but he has his sights set on straight-track goals in Melbourne in the spring.
“He’s a very nice horse. I’ve had some good sprinters in my time, and I think he’s getting up there with them,” he said.
“It was probably a prep too early to take on such a high-pressure race like [the Sunlight], but when you’ve got an opportunity at a big stakes race, and it’s an offer, you’ve got to take it.
“I thought he still acquitted himself well. He got back and it just wasn’t planned. His sectionals getting home were solid, and he’s going to benefit from that, and probably from the trip away.
“This preparation is about getting some wins on the board, get his benchmark up, and hopefully target some better races in the spring.
“I’d like to test him down the straight. I think his racing pattern will be really suited down there. In the spring, unless he steps up the plate, you don’t want to be taking him to those lead ups to the Everest, so if he can get some experience down in Melbourne, it might be right up his alley.”
Pfieffer was also confident about the chances of Oh Diamond Lil ($14), which races in the $500,000 Magic Millions National Classic (1600m) for fillies and mares at Eagle Farm.
The five-year-old was last as favourite in the Hawkesbury Crown when resuming from a spell and throat surgery a month ago. She was then two and a quarter lengths off the pace in the Dark Jewel Classic at Scone when seventh.
Pfieffer believed she was primed to return to her best.
“First-up, the plan was to lead and she ended up box-seating,” he said.
“It got her breathing in a bad rhythm. It just didn’t work for her, so she probably didn’t gain a lot from the race.
“Then second up I thought she was just a bit soft late. Obviously, she hit the front and looked good for a while, but I thought that last 100, she was a bit weak.
“So third up, two runs under a belt now, her work’s been great, the mile suits her, against own sex - it’s the right race for her.
“The way she’s worked leading into it, I think she’s going to run a mighty race, so hopefully it’s a two-state double.”
He said Oh Diamond Lil would likely spell after the run to prepare for the spring.
