Matt Chapman: The amazing story of Sandown hero Iceo… and the Aussies should put their money where their mouth is!

IMAGINE a world where the BHA promoted the good in racing. Like the story of Imperial Cup winner Iceo.

You may remember Iceo coming off the pace with a devastating kick to land the feature at Sandown on March 11.

News Group Newspapers Ltd.

The success quite rightly thrilled champion trainer Paul Nicholls, enjoying another big Saturday victory on ITV.

But it wasn’t just that Nicholls had bagged a huge weekend pot that left him beaming.

The satisfaction mainly came because the Ditcheat maestro knew just how much love and care had gone into Iceo scoring a famous success.

Iceo has plenty of screws in his leg, as the photo below shows.

Nicholls explained: “He had a fracture but we repaired him with the screws. It’s fantastic what can be done.”

Patience is the key.

If this had been a horse in the wild it would have been the end. Only because he is a racehorse comes the attention.

Nicholls added: “Basically he had a nice rest after the operation and then lots of physio. After that we gave him the summer out in the field.

“We brought him back in on September 1 and he then started a long and steady fitness programme with lots of steady work topped up by three sessions of water treadmill a week.

“There was no fast work from Christmas, just lots of graft.

“His first run brought him on tons.  Time and patience are the two keys words.”

Well done Nicholls and owner Chris Giles.

At a time when according to the BHA the world is up in arms about a padded whip, BHA should be promoting stories like this.

These are the tales that show the love and handling that those closest to racehorses give on a daily basis. No one loves racehorses or adore them more than those right next to them on a daily basis.

In other news, there can’t have been a single racing fan who wasn’t blown away by Equinox in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Saturday.

The Japanese Horse of the Year simply ripped up a high class field. When the Longines World Rankings are finalised for 2023 surely Equinox will be at the top of the list whatever happens between now and then.

AP

Matt was blown away by Equinox in Dubai on Saturday[/caption]

The Japanese are really showing the Australians how to race horses.

Now in the past, the Aussies have had a go at us Poms for our pathetic prize money and given that as an excuse for their reason not to try and conquer the UK and elsewhere to be quite frank.

However, they cannot throw that at the Japanese,  whose funding is even better than that Down Under.

Japanese horses go to America, France, Hong Kong, the UK and indeed Australia.

The mentality of the Japanese is a credit to them. They want to conquer. It’s a lesson for those Australians who think that everything just happens in Melbourne and Sydney.

Come and show the world if you think you are that good. Yeeehaaa! 

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