Written by Jessica Owers
The Hellbent caravan rolled on at Wyong on Tuesday afternoon, with the Yarraman Park sire getting a smart winner in the shape of 2-year-old colt Fire And Ice. It proved a very good win too, the horse posting a winning margin of 4.41l with jockey Hugh Bowman.
In the market, Fire And Ice was a clear favourite and one of the most experienced of the eight-horse field. He had three starts behind him, the best of which was a fourth on debut at Randwick in January.
Trained at Newcastle by Mark Minervini, the colt jumped from the inside draw at Wyong on Tuesday.
Watch: Fire And Ice cruising to victory at Wyong on Tuesday
He wasn’t the quickest away and took a momentary sit on the rails behind the early leader, Nonshalaant (Shalaa {Ire}). After that, the pair of horses raced alongside each other.
Into the home turn, Fire And Ice began to ease away from the field, travelling through the Soft 7 very well. Straightening for home, he was a length ahead and that margin blossomed the closer he got to the winning post.
In the end, it was a facile, 4.41l victory for the 2-year-old colt, with the Gary Portelli-trained Nonshalaant leading home his stable mate, Millybella (I Am Invincible), for a 5.61l third.
The final time for the 1000 metres was 58.53s, the last 600 metres in 34.11s.
Kitchwin family
Fire And Ice became the 11th seasonal winner for his first-season sire Hellbent, who logged his 10th winner as recently as Monday with the smart filly Negation.
It’s been an impressive bandwagon for Hellbent, who now sits behind only Russian Revolution (14) on the first-season sire table by winners, just overtaking The Mission.
Among the stallion’s first-crop winners this season have been Miss Hellfire, who was second in the R. Listed Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic, and Bohemian Daisy who was third in the G3 Ottawa S.
There is also Warby, who ran second in the G3 Black Opal S., and recent winners Hell I Am, Ammahell and Luna Rocks.
Ammahell is a recent winner for his sire, Hellbent | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Fire And Ice was bred by Mick Malone’s Kitchwin Hills, the first foal from Cersei (All Too Hard), a daughter of the Testa Rossa mare Vormista. This is a very good family for Malone, Vormista being a winner of the G2 Rose Of Kingston S. and placed in the Group 1 trio of the Australia S., BTC Cup and Manikato S.
“It’s a beautiful family,” said Malone, speaking to TDN AusNZ on Tuesday. “Vormista was a great race-mare from a very good pedigree, and this was a lovely little colt. He was good quality from Cersei who is a lovely type of mare too. She’s by All Too Hard, who is an interesting sire and doing all sorts of good things on the track.”
“It’s (the Fire And Ice pedigree) a beautiful family. Vormista was a great race-mare from a very good pedigree, and this was a lovely little colt. He was good quality from Cersei who is a lovely type of mare too.” – Mick Malone
Cersei was unraced for Malone, but she’s a half-sister to Reemah (Redoute’s Choice), who was second to Pride Of Dubai in the G1 Blue Diamond S. of 2015. It’s a family that has kept on giving to Kitchwin Hills.
Although Fire And Ice took a while to break his maiden, the style of his win at Wyong was exactly what he had promised, according to Malone.
Mick Malone of Kitchwin Hills
“He looked a horse that was going to do good things,” the studmaster said. “They’ve run him in some pretty high-profile races in his early days, so it was great to knock that race off (on Tuesday). It was so good to see, and he’s a lovely horse.
“They tell me he grew a lot in his last little break, thickening out, and he probably needed to do that. In that early prep, there just wasn’t a lot of him so really good to see him do that today.”
Connections
As the first foal from Cersei, Fire And Ice was consigned by Kitchwin Hills to the 2021 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. He was a nice type, dark-coated and correct, but he was little.
“He was a lovely yearling and a really grouse mover,” Malone said. “He was a neat, black colt and not huge, but he was well-actioned.”
Fire And Ice caught the attention of trainer Mark Minervini, who already had a considerable connection to the family. Minervini had trained Vormista, so he would have been pleased to pay $80,000 for Cersei’s Hellbent colt, a grandson of his former star galloper.
Fire And Ice as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“I actually purchased Vormista on behalf of John McGrath years and years ago off the track,” Malone said. “Interestingly, Mark (Minervini) sold her, and of course he had trained Vormista.
“I headed down to Adelaide and bought her on behalf of John McGrath, and John ended up breeding Cersei. So I bought Cersei from him later on, and I ended up departing with a few mares like that, but I liked her a lot.”
“I actually purchased Vormista on behalf of John McGrath years and years ago off the track. Interestingly, Mark (Minervini) sold her, and of course he had trained Vormista.” – Mick Malone
At Kitchwin Hills, it was a gamble putting a maiden mare to a debut stallion and, while Fire And Ice was a tad under-sized, it has proved a good mating. Since then, the mare has foaled a colt by resident stallion Sooboog, and she’s currently in foal to Graff.
“Graff really suits her because he’s got some size to him,” Malone said. “Hellbent was good but we thought we might need a bit more size and substance. On saying that, though, Mark tells me Fire And Ice has grown out really well, so there might have been a first-foal factor about that too.”
Malone is unclear yet where the Sooboog colt will go next year. If Fire And Ice continues on his promising trajectory, the now weanling could be a Magic Millions prospect in January. Otherwise, he could head to the Inglis Classic Sale a month later.
“Fire And Ice might give us a few options with the Sooboog colt,” Malone said. “If he goes the right way, it could ignite this pedigree all over again.”
