2016 Victoria Derby winner Prized Icon is well overdue for another Group 1 win and gets his chance when he lines up in the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on day one of The Championships on Saturday.
Prized Icon, above, will line up in the Doncaster Mile at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Prized Icon started his career under the care of James Cummings before he took up the head training position with Godolphin in 2017 and as well as winning the 2016 Group 1 $1.5m AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington during the Spring, the More Than Ready colt also claimed a Group 1 victory during his two year old season with a win in the $500,000 Moet & Chandon Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick earlier in the year in the Autumn.
Prized Icon has had five runs for trainer Kris Lees without a win but has three placings beside his name since joining the Newcastle stable.
Two of those placings were in Group 1 company with a second to Winx in the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on March 3 and a last start third behind Gailo Chop and Single Gaze in the Group 1 $700,000 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on March 24.
Lees said that Prized Icon dropping back to the 1600m of the Doncaster Mile after running over the 2000m of the Ranvet Stakes will have him ripe to secure another Group 1 victory.
“Prized Icon is coming back from a 2000m race and that has toughened him up for Doncaster,’’ Lees told The Daily Telegraph.
“He has been around the money every start for me and I’ve been waiting to get him into a high pressure race where he can sit off them a bit and finish off strongly.’’
Melbourne based jockey Ben Melham takes over from Hugh Bowman and will be able to give Prized Icon, with the blinkers back on, the run of the race from barrier five in the sixteen horse Doncaster Mile field.
Doncaster Mile betting at Ladbrokes.com.au has Prized Icon at the healthy odds of $34 while the James Cummings trained three year old Kementari heads the market order at $3.50.
On the second line of betting at $5 is the Pat Webster trained Happy Clapper just ahead of Chris Waller’s Rosehill Guineas winner D’Argento at $7.
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