Ice Cold Alex

That single victory came at Pontefract in April 2025, and it remains the high point of the career so far. Pontefract is a quirky, undulating track in West Yorkshire that catches plenty of horses out — so winning there at all means something. The problem is that was 13 months ago, and the six races since have brought a second place and nothing closer to the winner's enclosure: the recent sequence of 4-6-4-4-2-5 tells the story of a horse that shows up without quite delivering.

The step up into Class 2 company — some of the better races in Britain — has proven a tough ask. Three attempts at that level have produced zero wins, which suggests the horse is still finding its feet against stronger rivals. That said, a second place in the mix shows it isn't simply making up the numbers; there are glimpses of ability that Ollie Pears, the Norton-based trainer, will be hoping to unlock more consistently.

Pears has had a productive season — 11 winners from his yard already — so the operation is clearly in good form, even if Ice Cold Alex hasn't been the one doing the winning lately. Cam Hardie rides the horse most often, partnering it in 6 of its 8 races and landing that one win together. At roughly 1 win in every 6 rides as a pair, there's an established partnership, even if results have been elusive of late.

Raced just yesterday, Ice Cold Alex is very much an active runner rather than a horse being nursed back to form. At three years old, there is every reason to think improvement is possible — horses this age are still developing, and a return to somewhere like Pontefract, where the only win came, might be exactly what the team needs to engineer.