THE WAIT COULD BE WORTHWHILE FOR CIFRADO

By Graham Potter | Thursday, June 18, 2026

After missing out on a run in the Stradbroke last Saturday, the Rex Lipp trained Cifrado will line in the $200 000 Listed Eye Liner Stakes over 1350m at Ipswich this weekend with the in-form gelding looking to have every chance of adding to the six career wins he has posted to date.

Cifrado was the fourth out of five emergencies for the Stradbroke and, while three of the other Stradbroke emergencies elected to race in alternative races at the Stradbroke meeting, Lipp chose to save Cifrado for another day and that day arrives on Saturday.

The well performed son of Encryption has raced twice since resuming from just over a four month break from race action, and he returned fresh, sharp and back to his competitive best … winning the Listed ATC Trophy over 1200m at the Gold Coast first-up (beating Tuned by 0.32 lengths) … and he did that from the worst of the draw (barrier eleven out of eleven) … and then finishing second when only touched off by a lip by Abounding in the Group 3 BRC Sprint over 1350m … the distance of Saturday’s Eye Liner Stakes.

The five-year-old started at odds of $14 in the ATC Trophy and he was even more disrespected in the betting in the BRC Sprint where he started at $31 and came so close to causing a boilover.

Tom Sherry rode Cifrado in both of those races.

It was perhaps the unplaced results posted by Cifrado’s in his previous preparation that dampened the enthusiasm of punters. In five starts there … which included one Group 2 contest and three Listed races … Cifrado’s best result on paper was a fourth place finish at Eagle Farm, but Cifrado’s run in the $1 million Hunter at Newcastle, when venturing out of Queensland for the first time, was perhaps the most notable result … a fifth place finish just 1.62 lengths behind the Joe Pride trained Coal Crusher.

That is very much behind him now, with Cifrado coming back to his best.

And Cifrado at his best is worth revisiting.

His honour roll includes back-to-back wins in the Champagne Classic and the Sire Produce (both Group 2 races) as a two-year-old. (He won those races at $26 and $12 respectively so he has never been a punter’s friend … or punters have always misjudged him).

He won the Group 3 Vo Rogue (at $11) as a three-year-old. He won the Listed Lough Neagh Stakes ($6) as a four-year-old and now he has added the ATC Trophy to his winner’s collection a little over month ago.

Throw in that second place in his last start in the BRC Sprint … he also has claimed a further five runner-up finishes over his career, in races such as the Gold Coast Guineas and the George Moore (both Group 3 races) and the $1.5 million Magic Millions QTIS Open … and you have a record of a runner who is a serious racehorse, a rating given further credence by the fact that Cifrado’s career earnings will move past the $2 million mark if he were to win the Eye Liner.

Boris Thornton, who has partnered Cifrado in two of his six career victories, will renew his relationship with the Lipp trained runner on Saturday for the first time in twelve starts, having last ridden Cifrado back in January 2025.

Cifrado is currently a $9 chance in an open race, sitting on the fifth line of betting behind the $5.50 favourite Boomtown Boss.