Tim Ice

Born: 06/06/1974, East Liverpool, OhioResides: Hot Springs, ArkansasFamily: Single Ice, who saddled Summer Bird to win the Belmont Stakes, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup enroute to that colt winning an Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old last year, is rebuilding his stable. He recently announced that he will move his stable to New York at the close of the Oaklawn Park season, April 10. “I’ll do the NYRA circuit until December then return to Oaklawn. Tim went from a barn of 31 down to six head last month when Dr. K.K. Jayaraman and wife Devi took their horses and spread them around to several other trainers. Since then, Ice has picked up several head from John Ed Anthony. He also received several horses from Dr. Leonard Blach, co-owner of Mine That Bird, the Kentucky Derby winner. Additionally, Ice has been active at several horses in training auctions. “My two-year-olds are working on the farm. I will pick them up later this spring,” commented Ice. “I’m looking to take a stable from 15 to 20 to New York.” He is hoping to add several more older thoroughbreds. He said his current barn will be heavy on young horses, including the Anthony three-year-old New Madrid. “New Madrid finished second here last week, that coming in his second career start. He has a lot of promise,” Ice said. When asked how long it took him to come down from cloud nine after winning the Belmont, Tim smiled and replied, “I still haven’t come all the way down from that. I felt alone on that cloud even in the big crowd.” Tim had several earlier chances to venture out as a trainer on his own before actually doing so. “I was assistant to Morris Nicks for two years, Cole Norman for three and Keith Desormeaux for five. I wanted to have a thorough knowledge of the job and sufficient backing before going out on my own,” he said. Ice finally took the big step last year at Oaklawn, that of training a stable on his own for the first time. He had worked previous Spa meetings, but always as an assistant. Last year, the Ice stable was headed by Summer Bird, who would finish third in the $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby, April 11.