Ice to stay Kool in the 2026 Magic Millions Sunlight

David Pfieffer is optimistic Ice Kool can rise to the challenge when he steps into Saturday night’s $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight Plate (1100m) at the Gold Coast.

The lucrative three-year-old slot race was won by future Group 1 star Private Harry last year and will again see 12 runners face the starter, with Ice Kool drawing gate nine.

Ice Kool made an immediate impression when winning his Warwick Farm debut by 3½ lengths on December 3, before confirming his promise with another sharp display in a Benchmark 72 at Randwick on December 27.

He will represent Max Whitby’s slot on Saturday night and Pfieffer believes the closer spacing between runs should suit the gelding.

“He’s going to go into this race probably better prepared than last start,” Pfieffer said.

“Last start, he was three and a half weeks between runs. And so now, he’s going into it two weeks between runs, and it hopefully should suit him really well.

“He had a quiet week last week, had a gallop on Saturday with Jason (Collett) on board and had his final gallop Tuesday morning.

“He’ll get on a truck Thursday night and head to Queensland.”

Pfieffer said Ice Kool always needed to deliver a strong second-up performance to justify chasing a Sunlight Plate slot.

“He’d done a few little things wrong, and he still does a few little things wrong, but he’s getting better every trial, getting better every race start,” Pfieffer said.

“To get a slot, you’ve obviously got to prove yourself. Throwing him in a Saturday race was obviously a big step, but he stepped up to the plate.

“If he hadn’t got the job done, well, he doesn’t get a slot in this race. If he didn’t achieve that goal, well, we wouldn’t be talking now, would we?”

Although Ice Kool has found the lead in both starts so far, Pfieffer is hoping early speed from Swordplay and North England works to his advantage.

“He can be slow out, which he has been his last two starts,” Pfieffer noted.

“He’s not lightning out of the gates, like Swordplay is going to, it’ll launch out of the gates, so that might just create that hole in behind them.”

Markets are open with major betting platforms for the Magic Millions Sunlight Plate, giving punters plenty of ways to assess the race.

Ice Kool is rated a $4.50 second pick in Sunlight Plate markets behind Grafterburners ($2.80), the Kelly Schweida-trained gelding who is unbeaten in three runs this preparation and has drawn barrier two.

The post Ice to stay Kool in Magic Millions Sunlight first appeared on Just Horse Racing.