‘She’s one of the funniest horses in the world.’

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

Second in a Golden Eagle, three Group 1s and third in a further two, it was Icebath’s 38th start which saw her finally claim that elusive top-flight accolade. Despite some mighty efforts in defeat, one wondered whether things would ever fall right for the 6-year-old mare, and Basheer certainly agreed that it’s been a long time coming.

“It’s an incredible relief to have her win a Group 1,” Basheer told TDN AusNZ. “She’s deserved it with all the form she’s had around horses like Anamoe, Zaaki, Colette, I’m Thunderstruck, Mr Brightside - all the big horses. She’s been such a consistent horse.”

To put Icebath’s achievements into perspective, recall that she was a $100,000 purchase at the 2018 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, and has now amassed over $5 million in prizemoney. Having waited for so long in search of that Group 1, Basheer revealed that this season is likely to be Icebath’s last, though not before the ultra-consistent mare gets the chance to raise her profile even higher.

“It’s unknown what we’ll do with her in the end, but she’s got the autumn to come yet. She’s come back to Brad’s stable after the float trip to Melbourne in great order, really bouncing out of the float and she’ll go into the paddock on Wednesday.

“There will be some good targets set for her in the autumn, and that’s likely to see her out, but not guaranteed. We don’t know what we’re going to do as far as keeping her as a broodmare or whether we sell her as a breeding concern, we just want to do what’s right for her.”

Whether she remains in the hands of her current ownership or not, Saturday’s victory cements Icebath’s prospects as a highly valuable broodmare. And, as Basheer noted, she’s not the only high achiever in her family.

Out of the Waikato Stud producer Fabulist (NZ) (Savabeel), she has two stakes-winning siblings in Nowyousee (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) and Courier Wonder (NZ), the latter a full brother who is a Group 3 winner in Hong Kong.

“Waikato Stud still have the mare, Fabulist,” Basheer explained. “There’s a good story about her. I had a short stint at Racing.com a few carnivals ago, and both Shane Anderson and Warren Huntly leased the mare Fabulist to race. So, there’s been quite a bit of text banter and I saw Warren at the races on Saturday and we had a good laugh.”

Having already proven herself the horse of a lifetime for Basheer and his co-owners, there is one race in particular in which victory would seal a fairytale story. In both 2021 and 2022, Icebath came agonisingly close to emulating her late sire’s achievement of winning the G1 Doncaster H., missing out by just 0.2l on that first attempt, and she was under 1l away earlier this year.

“That’s what made those Doncaster placings so emotional in a way, because Sacred Falls was brilliant in that race, and she went really close. Who knows, she might even do it in the autumn. If she could win a Doncaster, it would be just rewards for her late sire Sacred Falls and Icebath as a racehorse.”

Dedicated racing fans

Basheer, a football commentator for SBS, will shortly be jetting off to Qatar to commentate on the football World Cup as Australia battle their way through the group stages. A self-confessed sports lover, there was little chance that wouldn’t extend to horseracing as he was exposed from an early age via his father’s involvement with the legendary John Hawkes.

“I’ve commented on the last three or four World Cups, and this will be my 10th in total. But, I’ve always had a love of horses. Going back to my childhood, my dad had horses with John Hawkes, back that far that it was when he trained in Adelaide.

“That’s really where my brother and I got our interest in horses,” he admitted.

Having been involved in three horses with moderate success with Brad Widdup in the past, Basheer said it was a joy to be sharing the recent success with some dedicated racing fans.

Apart from his brother, Simon, ownership in Icebath is also shared between Tass Roufos, John McGrath, a former WA Member of Parliament, and his son, managing owner David McGrath, a director on the board of the Australian Turf Club.

In a sad twist of fate, Widdup was unwell on the day and unable to travel from his Hawkesbury base to Flemington to celebrate first-hand, and Basheer was keen to impress that the key to Icebath’s success has been the dedication of her trainer and his team, for whom it was also a maiden Group 1 victory.

“She’s deserved it, and so has Brad Widdup and his team. Her connection with Rosie Jilla is amazing, she’s the strapper and the trackwork rider who’s ridden her since she was broken in. It’s an absolute team effort, they’ve loved the horse all along and placed her so well - her longevity is testament to that.

“Brad’s a great horseman with a great team of loyal staff. He really cares about his horses, you can tell in the way he trains and communicates.

“Not everything has always gone right with Icebath, but he’s taken everything on the chin. I don’t think we’ve had the best of luck in the past in major races, but having said that, we’ve also been very appreciative of racing a horse at that level. We’ve never come away from those races disappointed, just glad to have a horse like her.”

Quality aside, there won’t ever be another like her according to Basheer, who has found that the joy of owning an elite horse has been thoroughly enriched by Icebath’s peculiar character.

“She’s one of the funniest horses in the world. She makes everybody in the stable laugh, and I ask more about her mannerisms sometimes than I do about her form. She’s such an interesting horse.

“She consistently has people cracking up about her personality. If she was human, she’d always be the most interesting person in the room.”