Veteran trainer Rex Lipp will be looking for his third success in the BRC Sires Produce Stakes when Superalloy lines up in the Group 2 contest at Eagle Farm on Saturday … and he will also be eyeing off a possible Stradbroke showdown with his smart Encryption gelding Cifrado two weeks later.
That’s pretty good position to be in for a man who celebrated his seventy-sixth birthday yesterday … a position achieved by an unrelenting, solid, ‘old school’ work ethic and focussed discipline … and while Lipp didn’t get a birthday winner with his only runner on the card at Doomben yesterday, the runner-up finish of Redzoust was a satisfying enough effort to add value to the day.
Now it’s on to Saturday’s Sires with Superalloy, who has a hard act to follow in the Lipp stable storybook.
It has been twenty years since Lipp landed his first Sires Produce win with Star Shiraz, who was ridden by Glen Boss, in 2004.
Star Shiraz had finished second in the Champagne Classic in the race leading into the Sires, and she went on to run second in the Group 1 T J Smith in her next start after the Sires.
After the T J, Lipp sent Star Shiraz to the paddock. Her record at that time of three wins and five runner-up finishes in eights starts … reaching all the way up from a maiden win on debut to a Group 1 success, highlighted just how well Lipp had managed Star Shiraz to get her to that point in time with such a fine record.
Lipp’s second Sires win came last year with Cifrado, ridden by Damien Thornton. Cifrado had gone one better than Star Shiraz by winning the Champagne Classic in the lead-up to the Sires which he then won with some aplomb.
While it was nineteen years between Lipp’s first two victories in the Sires, the astute trainer now has the chance of making it back-to-back wins in the big race with Superalloy.
For his part, Superalloy doesn’t have the credentials of the Lipp Sires winning predecessors going into the race, as he comes into the race as a Maiden with only four starts under his belt, but Lipp is unfazed at the task at hand.
“He’ll race well, the little bloke … and I’m very pleased to get Jason Collett on him,” was Lipp’s quiet response to the challenge facing his horse which is $101 with betting sites.
And Lipp’s previous Sires winner, Cifrado, also remains clearly on the carnival big race radar.
His chance could come on June 15 in the Stradbroke.
“If Cifrado gets a run in the Stradbroke, he’ll be a rough chance,” said Lipp in his usual understated way.
There is no fanfare with Lipp. No beating of the drums, but the enormous experience he brings to the preparation of his horses and his judgement in placing them where they will have a chance, is a constant which has been a respected trait of Lipp’s for many years … which, put simply, means Superalloy and Cifrado might be worth a second glance in their respective races, irrespective of their price on the betting boards.