Carrying the famed Ingham cerise as does her close relation Fangirl, exciting Churchill (IRE) filly Cigar Flick made a winning debut at Canterbury on Friday night posting the first leg of a winning double at the meeting for her sire.
Cigar Flick impressed at her only trial and with James McDonald on board was well fancied to win the 1100m maiden despite her outside barrier and the wet rainy conditions which led to a heavy 8.
She travelled just behind the leader Fameux and surged by in straight past him in the straight to win by a length and a half.
“James took the option to go forward and she had a lovely run stalking Fameux,” said stable representative Damien Fitton,
“She let down with a lovely turn of foot and it will be onwards and upwards for her.
“She’ll improve a lot from this run and will handle all surfaces.”
James McDonald was thrilled with the effort and predicts a bright future for Cigar Flick.
“She’s a stunning filly and everything she does, she does so easy. She just oozes quality,” he said.
“She will be a beautiful 3YO and will run a mile easy.”
A homebred for the Ingham family, Cigar Flick was foaled and raised at Coolmore and is the first foal of Palmateer, a metro winning half-sister by Fastnet Rock to $3million earning Group I winner Fangirl from stakes-winner Little Surfer Girl.
I know nothing about surfing, but apparently Palmateer is named for Australian surfer Felicity (Flick) Palmateer, so this filly is well named too.
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 is from a family of outstanding fillies.
Palmateer had a filly by Flying Artie last year and was then covered by Street Boss (USA).
Cigar Flick looks a great prospect for Galileo’s champion son Churchill, who has just completed his fifth season at Coolmore Australia and has eight entries for Magic Millions.
Churchill made it a winning double on the night when the Chris Waller trained filly Super Chilled beat older rivals to win the Benchmark 64 event over 1550m.
Backing up from a maiden win over the same course on December 16, she was again ridden by James McDonald and enjoyed a good run in transit tracking the leader before powering clear to hold off all challengers and win by a neck.
With two wins and two placings from nine starts, Super Chilled has won just shy of $100,000 and was a bargain yearling purchase, snapped up for $70,000 at Karaka Book 1 by Mulcaster Bloodstock / Chris Waller Racing from the Curraghmore draft.
Super Chilled is the best of three winners from Fastnet Rock mare Ocean Fleet, a Geelong maiden winner from two starts and a half-sister Group II placed Secrets Only and to the dam of stakes-winner Wannabe ‘n’ Paris. The family also features Imperador, a dual Group I winner in Argentina.
A half-sister to Super Chilled by Saxon Warrior made $50,000 at Karaka earlier this year and Ocean Fleet has a yearling filly by Magna Grecia.
Both earlier winner Cigar Flick and Super Chilled are from daughters of Fastnet Rock, the nick having produced seven winners so far in Australia and Europe.
