Lipp cautious about an Ipswich start for Toba

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Rex Lipp will make a late call whether to give Toba the green light to start at Ipswich on Thursday.

Toba – a Cejay Graham mount – is an acceptor for the Class 5 Plate over 1350 metres on Thursday. 

Toba is also nominated for Eagle Farm on Friday and the Gold Coast on Saturday.

“I’m undecided where he’ll start and I’ll wait and see how he draws at the Gold Coast,” Lipp said.

“He was also entered for a Benchmark race at Eagle Farm on Friday but he was well down the list to get in and there’s a 1700 metre race I’ve entered him for at the Gold Coast on Saturday.”

Toba has won only four of his 29 starts but Lipp is far from disappointed with his record.

“He might be a five-year-old with only four wins but he’s still maturing,” Lipp said.

“He’s still growing into himself and I think he’ll run a lot further than 1350 metres.”

Toba is a son of Headwater and is coming off a last start fourth in a 1500 metre Benchmark race at Warwick on August 30.

“He copped a lot of interference at Warwick and was very unlucky,” Lipp said.

Toba had a win and two placings from his previous four starts and Lipp felt he was unlucky not to make it two wins.

“Toba should have won the day he ran second at Gatton (in July),” Lipp said.

“He was chopped out of it and was put down on his nose mid-race but he flew home to run second.

“He then won well at Gatton before I took him to Warwick.”

Lipp rarely makes bold predictions with his runners but believes Toba will be highly competitive if he starts at Ipswich.

Meanwhile, Lipp is looking forward to his star sprinter Cifrado making his race track return during the Queensland Summer Racing Carnival.

Cifrado was tipped out for a spell after finishing a close fifth to the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Xidaki in the Group 3 Winx Guineas at the Sunshine Coast in the middle of July.

A winner of the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate last summer and the Group 2 Sires’ Produce Stakes as a two-year-old, Cifrado has been back in work for nearly a month.

“He’s still some time off before he’s ready to barrier trial but he spelled really well and I’m looking forward to the summer with him,” Lipp said.

“He’ll be set for one of the races on Magic Millions day at the Gold Coast in January as well as some of the bigger sprint races in the summer.”