Carrying the famed Ingham cerise as does her close relation Fangirl, Cigar Flick has been a stable stalwart for Chris Waller, racing successfully in every season since she was two and the five year-old daughter of Churchill (IRE) finally landed a stakes victory at Doomben on Saturday in the Listed BRC Bright Shadow Quality (1110m).
First up from a spell with two recent trials to have her tuned up for today, Cigar Flick found the soft 7 track made to order and with a brilliant ride from Tommy Berry was able to zoom up the inside fence from last to win by a length running away.
"She's definitely better on soft tracks. She also runs well fresh and Tommy knows her well too. It was a great ride, he kept her nice and sharp and she really went when he asked her for an effort,” said Chris Waller.
"The plan was to be conservative with her for the first half of the race and save her up for one last crack at them. Luckily it worked out perfectly today."
Tommy Berry has ridden Cigar Flick in three of her six wins and was delighted to get the stakes win on the board for her.
"I know this mare quite well, and I seem to get a win on her every prep. Chris was nice enough to give me an extra kilo today, which was comfortable. I loved her trials, she's got a good fresh record and she loves this ground,” he said.
“I rode her with a bit of confidence knowing that she's got a lethal turn of foot, especially on this ground. She was really well prepared by the team today.
“It's always a privilege to ride a winner in these famous colours. Growing up my bedroom wall was full of pictures of Octagonal and Lonhro, they were my heroes as a kid."
Cigar Flick has the overall record of six wins and four placings from 31 starts with earnings topping $700,000.
A homebred for the Ingham family, Cigar Flick was foaled, raised and educated at Coolmore and is the best of two winners from Palmateer, a metro winning half-sister by Fastnet Rock to $10.8million million earning four time Group I winner Fangirl from stakes-winner Little Surfer Girl.
Her third dam is triple Group I winner Special Harmony, who won the VRC Oaks, Thousand Guineas and Arrowfield Stud Stakes among her 10 wins, so Cigar Flick will be a valuable addition to the Ingham family’s broodmare band when she retires.
Palmateer has a yearling filly by Justify (USA) and produced a colt by Zoustar last spring before having a year off.
Cigar Flick is the 35th stakes-winner for Churchill, who shuttled to Coolmore Australia for seven seasons and he remains on the Coolmore Ireland roster at a fee of €15,000.
