On the day that the mighty Liverpool FC looked to be mortal after all, Ice On Fire once again proved that he is the greyhound that the others must aspire to. He only won by half a length and he didn’t clock the fastest time of the night, but trainer Jimmy Fenwick took nothing but positives from Ice On Fire’s victory in the RPGTV Juvenile at Sheffield on Saturday night.
The English Derby favourite showed a glimpse of the devastating early pace that saw him win 16 of his first 19 races – you might want to read that stat again – but failed to pull away from Waikiki Lad from second to third and then held on by half a length to clock 29.21 on a rain saturated track rated -50.
Jimmy said: “I think he ran a great race considering the conditions and the preparation which was far from ideal. We had wanted to give him a trial a week ago, but the motorways were closed and Melanie couldn’t get to the track in time. We eventually managed to get a trial into him on Tuesday, which was needed, though the timing was far from perfect.
“It was his first race of the year, and something that Dave and I were keen to win given the prestige and history of the event, but he was a trial dog taking on runners with recent race form and that is always going to be tough.
“Ice On Fire is a speedster, with very little experience of running on a slow track, which is another test that I thought he passed with flying colours. So all things considered, I thought it was a magnificent performance.”
While the early start of the Star Sports/ARC/LPS Greyhound Derby has given trainers planning issues to consider, the scheduling of the Steel City Cup looks ideal for Ice On Fire.
Jimmy said: “We are still to confirm, but at this stage it looks the most likely option. If he was to get through to the final, it would give us three weeks before Nottingham which would allow me just enough time to get a couple of trials into him.”
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