Henry Cecil: A Triumph Of Noblesse Oblige
Not every trainer is stampeded by hundreds of fans and given three "Hip, Hip, Hoorays!" in a Winner's Circle when one of his horses wins a big one.
Henry Cecil has won his fourth Coral-Eclipse with Twice Over (Observatory) since his third Eclipse in 1978.
He was deeply moved by the public's genuine affection for him leaving him moist-eyed and almost speechless.
But not quite. He managed to give full credit to his team and a strong defence of his retained jockey, Tom Queally, who has been taking quite a bit of unfair flack recently after Jaqueline Quest lost the 1000 Guineas in Newmarket's Steward's Room for hanging right and interfering with the eventual winner Special Duty.
Cecil's natural humility represents the finest tradition of English training and the man exudes pure, natural 'class'.
He is an inspiration to all for his "getting on with it" without self pity through the cancer death of his beloved twin and his own frequent chemotherapies which leave him depleted much of the time.
Not intimidated by his mortality, Cecil was joyful at his Twice Over's proving how good he is and is full of future plans for the five-year-old horse including the Juddmonte International at York in August and more ambitiously - a hopefully more successful reprise for TO of the Dubai World Cup next March.
The £500,000 Group 1 Coral-Eclipse, 1m2f, on Sandown Park's straight Turf course was a record-breaking, muddling affair before and during the race.
Five of the horses looked fit and ready in the paddock: the mare Dar Re Mi, Mawatheeq, Sri Putra, Twice Over and Viscount Nelson.
Sir Michael Stoute's four-year-old Zacinto came out last for a short walk around paddock looking small and angry.
Leaving the paddock, handsome Sri Putra was sweating profusely and agitated.
Fireworks were staged by the most impressive-looking horse (and winner of the Best Turned Out Award), Mawatheeq, who dug in all four hooves and would not be moved into his stall despite a massive effort of course handlers.
He was withdrawn for refusing to enter the stalls, will have to endure stall schooling and the others went without him.
Then there was the race with a fast record time of 2m 4.64s (fast by 2.36s) on firm ground.
After giving several interviews saying that the mare Dar Re Mi should never be required to force a race, her trainer gave the instructions for her jockey William Buick to take the lead.
After Twice Over's bad luck at Ascot with Byword getting a lead on him, Queally repeatedly challenged her speeding up the race to blistering and ended up with a soft lead on the remaining four.
Dar Re Mi flowed with the pace until two furlongs out when she started to fade and did not respond to Buick's urging.
Finally, the other three woke up and Sri Putra cruised through Zacinto and Aiden O'Brien's Viscount Nelson from last position.
The three seemed to freeze in a line thinking about what to do next while smart Queally asked for a surge from Twice Over.
Sri Putra took off after him at the one furlong marker, Viscount Nelson made an effort and Zacinto faded to last behind Dar Re Mi.
Queally said " I was gifted with the lead early on. I was screaming a lot for it to come. Thankfully it did."
Twice Over finally got lucky. Michael Jarvis' nervy Sri Putra got within a half length of him on the line.
If only the three had not hesitated, there would have been another winner at 33.1 with another inspirational trainer, who has battled illness and refuses to quit, in the Winner's Enclosure.
Even Jarvis was impressed with his beautifully-muscled Oasis Dream colt and cannot wait to enhance his stallion value with a few Group 1s possibly outside the UK.
The colt is owned by HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah and bred by Glebe Stud and Partners.
Both Oasis Dream and Twice Over are products of Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms and TO won in his colours.
Racing International http://www.racingint.com
Henry Cecil has won his fourth Coral-Eclipse with Twice Over (Observatory) since his third Eclipse in 1978.
He was deeply moved by the public's genuine affection for him leaving him moist-eyed and almost speechless.
But not quite. He managed to give full credit to his team and a strong defence of his retained jockey, Tom Queally, who has been taking quite a bit of unfair flack recently after Jaqueline Quest lost the 1000 Guineas in Newmarket's Steward's Room for hanging right and interfering with the eventual winner Special Duty.
Cecil's natural humility represents the finest tradition of English training and the man exudes pure, natural 'class'.
He is an inspiration to all for his "getting on with it" without self pity through the cancer death of his beloved twin and his own frequent chemotherapies which leave him depleted much of the time.
Not intimidated by his mortality, Cecil was joyful at his Twice Over's proving how good he is and is full of future plans for the five-year-old horse including the Juddmonte International at York in August and more ambitiously - a hopefully more successful reprise for TO of the Dubai World Cup next March.
The £500,000 Group 1 Coral-Eclipse, 1m2f, on Sandown Park's straight Turf course was a record-breaking, muddling affair before and during the race.
Five of the horses looked fit and ready in the paddock: the mare Dar Re Mi, Mawatheeq, Sri Putra, Twice Over and Viscount Nelson.
Sir Michael Stoute's four-year-old Zacinto came out last for a short walk around paddock looking small and angry.
Leaving the paddock, handsome Sri Putra was sweating profusely and agitated.
Fireworks were staged by the most impressive-looking horse (and winner of the Best Turned Out Award), Mawatheeq, who dug in all four hooves and would not be moved into his stall despite a massive effort of course handlers.
He was withdrawn for refusing to enter the stalls, will have to endure stall schooling and the others went without him.
Then there was the race with a fast record time of 2m 4.64s (fast by 2.36s) on firm ground.
After giving several interviews saying that the mare Dar Re Mi should never be required to force a race, her trainer gave the instructions for her jockey William Buick to take the lead.
After Twice Over's bad luck at Ascot with Byword getting a lead on him, Queally repeatedly challenged her speeding up the race to blistering and ended up with a soft lead on the remaining four.
Dar Re Mi flowed with the pace until two furlongs out when she started to fade and did not respond to Buick's urging.
Finally, the other three woke up and Sri Putra cruised through Zacinto and Aiden O'Brien's Viscount Nelson from last position.
The three seemed to freeze in a line thinking about what to do next while smart Queally asked for a surge from Twice Over.
Sri Putra took off after him at the one furlong marker, Viscount Nelson made an effort and Zacinto faded to last behind Dar Re Mi.
Queally said " I was gifted with the lead early on. I was screaming a lot for it to come. Thankfully it did."
Twice Over finally got lucky. Michael Jarvis' nervy Sri Putra got within a half length of him on the line.
If only the three had not hesitated, there would have been another winner at 33.1 with another inspirational trainer, who has battled illness and refuses to quit, in the Winner's Enclosure.
Even Jarvis was impressed with his beautifully-muscled Oasis Dream colt and cannot wait to enhance his stallion value with a few Group 1s possibly outside the UK.
The colt is owned by HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah and bred by Glebe Stud and Partners.
Both Oasis Dream and Twice Over are products of Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms and TO won in his colours.
Racing International http://www.racingint.com
Posted by susan trevelyan-syke at 7/4/2010 8:54 PM 
Categories: Coral-Eclipse 2010
Tags: Dar Re Mi Sir Michael Stoute Racing International Sri Putra Henry Cecil Tom Queally Mawatheeq Michael Jarvis Twice Over Juddmonte Farms Viscount Nelson Aiden O'Brien Coral-Eclipse Zacinto
Categories: Coral-Eclipse 2010
Tags: Dar Re Mi Sir Michael Stoute Racing International Sri Putra Henry Cecil Tom Queally Mawatheeq Michael Jarvis Twice Over Juddmonte Farms Viscount Nelson Aiden O'Brien Coral-Eclipse Zacinto
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