Little enjoying the ride with exciting colt Cifrado

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Encryption colt propels himself to favouritism for the JJ Atkins Plate for Cairns-based owner after winning BRC Sires’ Produce

North Queenslander Cliff Little has hit the jackpot – twice.

The Cairns-based Little, 67, came into some “good fortune” about four years ago which allowed him to indulge his passion for racing up and down the east coast and now one of his biggest equine investments, juvenile colt Cifrado (Encryption), is taking the Brisbane winter carnival by storm.

Trained at Toowoomba by Rex Lipp, Cifrado backed up his Champagne Classic (Gr 2, 1200m) victory at Doomben earlier this month with a win in Saturday’s $1 million BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Eagle Farm, a performance which promoted him to the top of betting markets for Saturday week’s JJ Atkins Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) back at the premier Brisbane circuit.

Little, who is yet to be trackside for any of Cifrado’s seven starts so far, was yesterday still trying to take in his colt’s Sires’ Produce win and preferred to deflect praise to Lipp.

“From the word go, Rex picked this horse at the Magic Millions sales. There wasn’t a second or third choice, it was that one and that one only,” Little told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.

“He settled in with a plan for the horse and everything he said he was going to do, he did, and winning the two Group 2s inside a month I think is a fantastic training achievement.

“Rex is a very astute, cautious trainer. The horse, as he says, will not run around (in the JJ Atkins) unless he is fit but he has pulled up very, very well today.”

The winner of $870,525 in prize-money so far in his short career, Cifrado had to survive a protest from Paul Snowden, the co-trainer of the sixth-placed Make A Call (Extreme Choice) to keep his Sires’ Produce victory, a drama that Little was oblivious to.

“Actually, I didn’t know there was a protest until a mate sent me a text, saying ‘what’s this bloody protest about?’ and I said, ‘hey?’,” Little said. 

“I must have just stepped out for a minute and when I came back, the TAB said it was dismissed.”

Little also has horses with Cairns-based father-and-son training partnership Trevor and Peter Rowe as well as Tony and Calvin McEvoy in Victoria, while he also has a team with the Sunshine Coast-based Stuart Kendrick.

It was Trevor Rowe who recommended Lipp as a suitable trainer for Little to link with in South East Queensland and it was the 75-year-old veteran trainer who selected Cifrado, paying $320,000 from last year’s Gold Coast sale. 

The highest-priced first crop yearling by Eureka Stud’s Encryption (Lonhro), the colt is a half-brother to Black Soil Bloodstock’s talented Listed winner Miami Fleiss (Spirit Of Boom) and the stakes-placed Cochrane (Spirit Of Boom), being the third named foal out of dual winner Madame Fly (Excites). 

“We had some horses that we bought from some of the sales and we decided that we might try them out in Brisbane first (before taking them to Cairns) and so I rang Rex and he agreed to the plan,” Little revealed.

“They weren’t the fastest of horses, so we brought them up here (to North Queensland) and I got talking to Rex and I said, ‘what would you really like?’ and he said he really wanted a yearling.

“So, we went to Magic Millions and he picked out Cifrado. People said I paid over the average for him, but I wasn’t particularly worried. 

“He was a beautifully marked horse and Encryption was a great racehorse himself. It didn’t particularly faze me and those critics of mine who said I paid too much, I think they’re eating their words now.”

With a horse of Cifrado’s profile, it is natural that the phone has been ringing with enquiries about purchasing the colt, but all Little would admit to was of hearing “a whisper or two”.

He said: “Hong Kong were interested in him after the first race (Champagne Classic) but I haven’t heard back since. 

“I don’t know what they would say now after his second Group 2, but the fact is, he is a marvellous horse and I want to see him run for a lot longer in Australia. He’s only a two-year-old.”

Plus, Little is having too much fun watching the colt go around, particularly when the horse has been winning at double figure odds.

“I am a punter and, yes, I did pick up a substantial amount on him the first time (in the Champagne Classic),” the owner said.

“When I first put money on I think he was only $12 and about an hour before the race he was $34 and I said, ‘I’m not letting this one go past’.”

Little also owns a swag of horses racing in North Queensland, at Townsville and Cairns and everywhere in between, including the smart Rowe-trained sprinter Smart Image (Smart Missile).

Formerly owned by Triple Crown Syndications and trained firstly by Peter and Paul Snowden prior to a brief stint in Brisbane with Tony Gollan, Smart Image has won six of his seven starts at Cairns and Townsville since being purchased by Little.

“I am having great success up here with Trevor Rowe training them. Smart Image, we got him not so long ago and he’s had seven runs for us for six wins and one second,” he said. 

“Trevor is very much like Rex. He’s got a plan worked out, he’s nurturing the horse. The Cleveland Bay (at Townsville over 1300 metres on August 12) is the big one up here and maybe if he does well we might take him back to Brisbane.”

Cifrado’s sire Encryption has three second crop yearlings set to go under the hammer at the two-day Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, which begins tomorrow on the Gold Coast.