16 April 2020 | Ken Casellas
Just over 12 years ago punters rallied to support seven-year-old gelding Isee Nussink into favouritism at $3.90 in the $17,000 race eight at Gloucester Park and they cheered when he made most of the running and won by a neck from Turkish.
Now, astute punters will be keen to back seven-year-old gelding Iceenothink in the $17,600 race eight at Gloucester Park on Friday this week.
The Jon Gavin-trained Isee Nussink had finished second (to De Galdearno) the week before that win 12 years ago (which was gained at his 33rd WA start and gave him his sixth win at Gloucester Park).
The Ross Olivieri-trained Iceenothink finished strongly when second to The Bird Dance at Gloucester Park last Friday night at his 35th start in the State and he now has bright prospects of winning this week to record his sixth win at Gloucester Park.
Isee Nussink came to WA early in 2006 after 23 wins in New South Wales. The South Australian-bred Iceenothink arrived in WA a couple of years ago after racing 18 times in Victoria for nine wins and six placings and having one start in Queensland when, as the $2.10 favourite, he led before wilting to finish sixth behind Catcha Lefty in the 2680m Queensland Derby at Albion Park in July 2016.
Three starts after his Derby run Iceenothink finished a sound fourth behind the brilliant Our Waikiki Beach in the group 1 $185,000 Breeders Crown for three-year-old colts and geldings at Melton on August 28, 2016. That was his final appearance in Victoria.
He then was kicked by another horse in a paddock and sustained a fractured bone in his hock, an injury which kept him out of action for 19 months.
Iceenothink’s first 35 starts in WA have produced seven wins and 11 placings and his recent form has been excellent. He started from barrier eight and raced in eighth position before sustaining a powerful three-wide burst over the final 650m to finish a neck second to the pacemaker The Bird Dance over 2536m last Friday night.
Two starts before that Iceenothink settled down in last place in a field of 11 and finished powerfully from sixth at the bell to win from Mighty Santana at a 1.55.7 rate over 2130m. This week he will start out wide at barrier seven and reinsman Mitch Miller will be looking for the gelding to unleash his renowned strong finishing burst in a bid for victory.
He is sure to meet with plenty of opposition, with his chief rivals expected to be the Greg and Skye Bond-trained pair of Mighty Santana and Our Jimmy Johnstone, speedy pacers Golden State and Hy Leexciting and Aldo Cortopassi’s talented frontrunner Dreamy Nights, who is ideally drawn at the No. 2 barrier in the field of nine.
Mighty Santana notched his 11th win from 38 starts when he was untroubled to set the pace and beat Gangbuster by two lengths over 2130m on Thursday of last week and the extra distance of 2536m this week will not worry him. He has won twice over 2536m and he was successful over 2600m and 2700m in New Zealand before coming to Australia.
His 11-year-old stablemate Our Jimmy Johnstone is racing with commendable enthusiasm and cannot be discounted, even from the outside barrier at No. 9. Our Jimmy Johnstone raced in fifth position on the pegs before charging home, out four wide, to be a head second to the brilliant Shockwave over 1730m last week.
Dreamy Nights underlined his predilection for pacemaking with easy all-the-way victories over 2130m in February and March, and Cortopassi is sure to take full advantage of the six-year-old’s frontrunning capabilities. Golden State showed a welcome return to his best form last week with a fast-finishing close third behind Shockwave and he, too, will have admirers.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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