The two-year-old feature of the day was the Group 2 Spirit Of Boom Classic where we saw one of the best finishes of the day at Doomben, with a driving go between the colt Cifrado and the two fillies Armed Forces and Appin Girl with the colt getting his nose down on the line to take out the $300,000 race.
The son of Encryption settled at the rear of the field from barrier six and even though there wasn’t a lot of speed injected into the race, the two-year-old colt let down with a devastating turn of foot to squeeze between runners and hit the front just in time.
After breaking his maiden when first-up this preparation, Cifrado went onto run third the Listed Dalrello Stakes before making the jump to the Spirit Of Boom Classic, and it was clear that his horse has been screaming out for 1200m, which is what he got on Saturday.
2023 Spirit Of Boom Replay – Cifrado
After one of the biggest wins of his career, Rex Lipp spoke post-race about his colts victory.
“His run the other day over 1000m was extraordinary,” Lipp said.
“He had to go back from the bad barrier, and he made up a lot of ground and was hitting the line. I actually thought the horse could win today.
“He’s a colt that’s on the way up, I think he’s going to be a very very good horse as a three-year-old.
“I thought he should of been one off the fence but he was happy on the fence. I didn’t know how he’d be on the fence the horse because he’s never seen the fence before.”
Damien Thornton chose to stick with Cifrado after having his first ride on him in the Dalrello Stakes, and that loyalty has paid off for Thornton with a win in the Spirit Of Boom Classic.
“I was pretty happy when I found the back of Boris (Thornton – Appin Girl – 3rd), he was the one to beat,” Thornton said of his run in transit.
“I still wasn’t sure I could beat him over 1200m, I thought my bloke might’ve wanted further.
“I still feel a bit bad, it was Boris’ ride and he couldn’t ride him because he was on Appin Girl last time.
“He did all the work, so a lot of credit goes to him, taught the horse to relax and do everything right. I’ve just been a lucky beneficiary today.
“He’s a really nice horse, he’s progressive. I do believe he’ll be a much better three-year-old.”
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