Ryan Campbell could not have identified how essential the 2010 Florida Derby can be to his profession within the Thoroughbred enterprise, even when he thought he did on the time.

His skilled pursuits have been tied to Nice Prince, the son of a stallion he stood in Indiana, Indy King. Getting a Grade 1 winner in a serious Kentucky Derby prep would have been an enormous enhance for his current acquisition.

His private pursuits have been with Lentenor, a full-brother to the ill-fated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro who he’d adopted carefully because the colt’s earliest days. A strong effort within the Florida Derby would have given considered one of his favourite horses in coaching a transparent path to the Kentucky Derby.

Ice Field beat them each, catching Nice Prince by a nostril on the finish of a screaming late drive, with Lentenor in fourth. One other deep-closing effort noticed Ice Field end a gaining second at Churchill Downs in his ensuing begin.

Over a decade later, Campbell would have ties with all three horses.

Ice Field and Lentenor, each 16 years outdated, reside in the present day on reverse ends of the barns at Indiana Stallion Station in Anderson, Ind., each owned by Campbell. Indy King was later offered to face in New Zealand.

Standing Lentenor was all the time the dream for Campbell, who was considered one of many to fall for the horse after following Barbaro’s convalescence from a damaged leg suffered within the 2006 Preakness Stakes. Campbell had grown up loving twin traditional winner Swale, and the crushing information of his sudden demise within the days following the 1984 Belmont Stakes was a well-known chorus as he adopted Barbaro and his youthful siblings.

Ice Field was a welcome member of Campbell’s stallion portfolio, however that very same bond simply wasn’t there. How may or not it’s when Lentenor tapped right into a core reminiscence from when Campbell was eight years outdated?

That modified when each stallions moved to Indiana Stallion Station and Campbell, an Anderson native, obtained to have his palms on Ice Field daily.

“Ice Field had so much to return into, as a result of Lentenor was hands-down my favourite,” he stated. “Lentenor’s meant so much to our household, however Ice Field is my buddy. We exit and fiddle. Once you see him stroll throughout to get to his paddock, he simply hangs his head and you may attain out and pet him as he goes alongside.

“After we first began seeing him, we by no means would have dreamed that we might have gotten him,” Campbell stated. “I’ve had many stallions earlier than, and I by no means would have stated earlier than he moved again to Indiana that he would have been my favourite, simply from a dealing with standpoint. Some horses, you make a reference to and they are often variety, they are often imply, no matter, and you continue to have a reference to them. Ice Field is one which he is a mild-mannered, good-brained stallion.”

Campbell bought Ice Field in 2020, however their paths had crossed incessantly earlier than the ink was placed on the paper.

He recalled watching Ice Field within the 2010 Kentucky Derby, the place he broke from the second publish and spent your complete first mile of the race consuming mud in second-to-last place below jockey Jose Lezcano. He searched desperately for a seam on the prime of the stretch and was pressured to examine repeatedly, finally swinging widest of all and making up tons of floor, however he was unable to catch a rail-skimming Tremendous Saver earlier than reaching the wire.

“You watch him come up and he will get stopped on the rail, and he has to drag again and swing out, and he will get stopped once more, after which he will get stopped another time, and he has to drag again and swing method out,” he stated. “Then, one final time, he stopped and he needed to swing out, and he was nonetheless half a size from getting Tremendous Saver. You go one other 30 yards, and he is there. We predict if he’d not been stopped one of many thrice, or if he’d gotten the rail journey that Tremendous Saver obtained, there would have been a really fascinating distinction on the finish of the Derby.”



The way in which he gained floor within the stretch, many bettors pegged Ice Field as their Belmont Stakes horse, they usually despatched him postward because the heavy favourite. Nonetheless, he was by no means in a position to unfurl his signature late run, and he completed a non-threatening ninth.

The colt by no means fairly discovered his stride after the Derby, racing by means of the top of his 4-year-old marketing campaign, however by no means profitable once more after the Florida Derby. Ice Field retired with three wins in 16 begins for earnings of $948,068 for proprietor Robert LaPenta and coach Nick Zito.

Ice Field retired to Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., for the 2012 breeding season, and Campbell was among the many breeders that inspected the brand new arrival to contemplate for his mares. He ended up sticking nearer to dwelling to help the stallions he owned in Indiana, however he continued to observe the horse’s profession with curiosity when he relocated to Three Chimneys Farm the next season, and later when he moved throughout city to Millennium Farms in 2015.

He stood at Millennium for 5 seasons, his longest stint at a Kentucky farm, earlier than his path crossed with Campbell as soon as once more.

“When he went to Millennium, we have traditionally had a very good relationship with the folks there,” Campbell stated. “We purchased Swagger Jack off of them. They contacted me and stated ‘Ice Field’s homeowners are desirous to do one thing with him. Would you have an interest?’ We might all the time preferred him, and love sons of Pulpit, and he produced.”

At that time, Ice Field had established himself as a sire of sturdy runners, however he was nonetheless searching for a breakout U.S. runner. He scraped graded success with the likes of Grade 3-placed Dubby Dubbie, who has earned over $667,000 over seven seasons, whereas his worldwide runners included Puerto Rican Group 1 winner Heladero and Panamanian Group 2-placed El Ajustador.

Campbell, a community architect for a serious plastic packaging firm, bought Ice Field from an possession group that included nation music star Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Farms and LaPenta, and the unique homeowners nonetheless preserve a share of the breeder’s awards.

Ice Field debuted for his new proprietor at Cabin Creek Farm in Pennsylvania for the 2020 breeding season. Campbell stated curiosity was sturdy from breeders earlier than the opening of the breeding shed, however restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic led to not one of the contracts being stuffed, and the stallion’s standing did not get well within the seasons that adopted.

Campbell moved Ice Field to Indiana Stallion Station in mid-April of this 12 months, and he stated the response from breeders was quick. In an abbreviated season, he is anticipated to cowl 10 to 12 mares.

“We just about chalked up that shifting him right here in the midst of April was a wash,” Campbell stated. “Surprisingly, inside per week and a half of individuals discovering out he was right here, the cellphone began ringing. For coming in April, he is had actually good help from Indiana, and possibly goes to cowl the identical quantity of mares that half the stallions within the state of Indiana cowl, interval, whether or not they’ve been right here 5 years or six months.

“I see subsequent 12 months being significantly better for him in variety of mares from the folks which are reaching out already for subsequent 12 months’s breeding season,” he continued. “A number of folks have been upset that he got here in so late, as a result of they’d contracted their mares to anyone else, they might have bred to him to this 12 months.”

The spring transfer from Pennsylvania to Indiana additionally included Lentenor, persevering with the shut hyperlink between him, Campbell, and Ice Field. Lentenor retired to Calumet Farm in 2013, the 12 months after Ice Field’s lone season there, and he later stood at Indiana Stallion Station as Calumet property. Campbell obtained loads of face time with Lentenor in Indiana, and he purchased the stallion from Calumet in 2022 to face in Pennsylvania.

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Horses which were by means of the Triple Crown spectacle acquire a level of expertise round crowds and media not like something most horses will see of their lifetimes. Although it has been 12 years since Ice Field competed on the racetrack, Campbell stated he is nonetheless obtained the “huge horse” routine down.

“When he obtained right here, he stepped off the trailer, stopped, took a step, raised his head, regarded round like ‘I am right here,’” he stated. “By no means made a sound, and simply walked himself in.

“I feel all the great horses know they’re particular,” Campbell continued. “You possibly can positively inform the distinction between a racehorse that was a giant deal and those that weren’t. You possibly can inform it once you seize the lead. Once you seize his lead, there’s simply class that comes by means of the lead. who you’ve. I’ve led tons of horses my whole life. There are only a few the place once you seize the shank, . He’s one thing particular.”

Ice Field resides on the finish of the row within the Indiana Stallion Station barn, with a view of the indoor enviornment. He’ll often be joined within the rafters by P the peacock, belonging to farm proprietor Joyce Baker. The fowl’s high-pitched cry can echo from one stud barn to the opposite.

With the summer time months making the evenings a cooler possibility, Campbell stated Ice Field is on night time turnout, which inserts completely along with his personal schedule.

“I prefer it higher for him at night time, as a result of I work a traditional job, so I get to deal with him,” he stated. “He loves his tub. It is no totally different than any stallion that is in Kentucky. He will get groomed daily, he will get his tub daily, and he will get his turnout daily. It is not like Kentucky the place you breed daily, however issues are selecting up.”

Introducing a stallion to a brand new regional market could be difficult if there’s not a big providing of foals and runners already showing close by for breeders to get an impression of what he has to supply, however Campbell has ensured that potential clients have all of the pictures and movies they should make the connection.

Nonetheless, he stated what makes Ice Field a contender within the Indiana stallion ranks are the issues that do not present up on a digital camera.

“There have been a number of mediocre-level mares bred to Ice Field all through his profession that haven’t produced something till they obtained their Ice Field,” Campbell stated. “Infants do not know the place they’re born. Whether or not they’re born in Indiana, or Kentucky, or New York, he nonetheless has the flexibility to throw that huge horse. Through the years, after we first began in Indiana, the mare high quality was actually, actually poor. It is a completely totally different recreation in Indiana now. We’ve mares that are available that made half 1,000,000 {dollars}, stakes-winning mares.”