THE INDEPENDENT ON SATURDAY DRILL HALL STAKES (Grade 2) - ICE MACHINE confirms improvement last time

There was drama at the start of this race which was delayed due to the scratching of Horse of the Year, LEGISLATE. The champion horse from the Justin Snaith yard kicked out inside his starting stall while awaiting the last few horses to load for the race. His back leg was caught awkwardly and was examined by the vetinary surgeon who duly scratched him. This left the race with an open look.

ASHTON PARK was slow to break and settled in at the back. He was joined by the new favourite, KING OF PAIN. The early leader was CHEKILLI who took them along at a fair gallop. Following him was SABADELL, NIGHT TRIP and HELDERBERG BLUE.

At the halfway mark of this 1400m event, CHEKILLI still held the lead but stable companion, BOUCLETTE TOP moved into second with SABADELL dropping down to third and MOUNTAIN MASTER fourth.The eventual winner, ICE MACHINE was well placed to pounce at the 400m mark. Once again jockey Anton Marcus, as he had done in the previous race, found his run on the outside of the home straight and finished well aboard the Charles Laird trained ICE MACHINE, thus breaking the Cape Town domination of the feature races on the day. BOUCLETTE TOP stayed on for second. ASHTON PARK, were it not for the tardy start, may have finished closer than third. CHEKILLI was not disgraced back in fourth.

There were disappointments of the race but take nothing away from ICE MACHINE who at least landed the first feature race of the season for Durban based trainers. The six year son of SILVANO has shown a new lease for life since moving to the Charles Laird yard and has now won eight from twenty five starts. His stake earning have now just passed R900 000.

ICE MACHINE 6 b G Sire: Silvano (GER) Dam: Skid Alley DamBy: Elliodor (FR).

BRED BY: Mr R Meaker (Snr).

OWNED BY: Mrs G E Meaker and Royal Albatross Investments (Pty) Ltd (Nom : Mr R Meaker (Snr).