Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup will farewell group 1 winner Icebath in the next couple of weeks, but the future of his stable looks bright judging by the talent on show in the Provincial-Midway Championships Final at Randwick on Saturday.
Widdup has qualified three for the $500,000 final after Short Shorts and Phearson won heats and Cross The Rubicon ran second at Wyong.
Alysha Collett will look to keep her winning combination with Short Shorts in the Provincial-Midway Championships.Credit:Getty
The market indicates Short Shorts is his best chance and he has stuck with Alysha Collett to ride her.
“It’s a race we targeted with a few horses and to have three in is great; now we want to win it,” Widdup said. “Short Shorts is obviously our best chance after her win at Kembla, and to give her best chance I kept Alysha on her. She knows the horse well.
“She has won three races on her and has ridden her quite a bit. It’s hard to take her off when she won the heat on her and the owner was happy to keep her on.
“Alysha does a lot of riding for me, so it was a bit of reward and about being a bit loyal. She is definitely underrated as a rider and horses run for her.
“Also, I haven’t had a lot of luck at switching jockeys.”
Collett sits in the top four of the provincial jockeys premiership. Most of her Saturdays are spent at Kembla Grange and Newcastle, and she is relishing the chance to ride in the $500,000 final.
“It is great to stay with Short Shorts because she is a great hope,” Collett said. “She has a few tricks but we get on really well, so she keeps you on your toes.
“She is right in this race if she is on her best behaviour.”
Short Shorts is a $6 chance for the final, but Widdup can see value in Phearson, which has won three of his four starts since joining his team as a five-year-old.
He made it a third straight victory in the Hawkesbury heat when he burst out of the pack and held off a wall of horses to win in good time but remains a $13 chance.
“He has been overlooked a bit. I think he is going to be a nice horse and has really started to mature,” Widdup said. “He was mentally not there early on, but he is getting better with age.
“It was a very good win at Hawkesbury, and we have been able to get Tim Clark to ride him in the final.”
Cross The Rubicon is a $71 chance after running second to Acquitted in the Wyong heat.
Meanwhile, Widdup’s star mare Icebath will not get back to the races before being sold at the Chairman’s Sale next month.
“It has been a bit disappointing what happened with her, but she has been so good to us there is no need to rush her back before the sale,” Widdup said.
“She won that group 1 in Melbourne and has given me some of my best memories, running seconds in a Doncaster and a Golden Eagle. We just have to find one half as good as her now.”
