A horse to look forward to in 2008: Sergeant Cecil

Every horse should have it´s followers, but some horses achieve such very special things on the racetrack that even more people take them into their hearts.

Sergeant Cecil clearly is such a horse. From humble beginnings (indifferent breeding - and his first victory would not come until he had turned 4), from a small yard deep in the West Country best known for jumping horses who had never trained a Group 1 winner before, Sergeant Cecil was an unlikely candidate to "create flat racing history".

But he did just that in 2005 when he became the first horse -ever- to win the three major staying handicap´s in England´s Flat-season in one year (see chapter "KING OF THE HANDICAP`S").

How did he do it? He simply put his head down and fought for every meter in every race he ran, guided, and no doubt this added to the "Cecil Magic", by a returning hero in Alan Munro.

At the End of 2005 an admiring racing public voted Sergeant Cecil "Horse of the year", a feat never achieved by a mere Handicapper before.

2006 was bound to be a difficult year, as The Sergeant had progressed beyond Handicaps, and it would be Group-Races now. But he continued to improve and rose to the challenge.

In 2006 Sergeant Cecil not only won his first Group Race but he made two and, on a glorious Sunday in France, he triumphed where other star stayers like Persian Punch and Double Trigger had failed - he took the Grp 1 Prix du Cadran by storm.

He had many in tears that day including Rod's wife Louise. British racegoers on a foreign soil gave the horse and new pilot Frankie Dettori the reception of a true hero.

The old soldier continued to thrill connections and the public mixing it with the best of the bests. 2007 was bound to be a tough year for him carrying his Grp 1 penalty at the age of 8 but he still managed to win the Yorkshire Cup (becoming the oldest horse to do so) on his favoured Knavesmire in which he had finished second in 2006. In late summer when it was found that he had a minor lung infection connections decided not to return to Longchamp but to give him an early holiday.

He owes nothing to anyone and each season with him is a blessing.


This page is made by fans for other fans to enjoy, share and honour a truly GREAT racehorse. Like other much loved heroes before him Cecil´s greatness is not only measured in pounds, but in heart, will, spirit and determination.

Horses like him are priceless, and we have to celebrate them while we can!

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us and contributed to these pages. Please feel free to send us your messages or photos of Sergeant Cecil, or sign his guestbook.

Please note: We own the copyrights for all photos displayed here, and have clearly named each photographer. We are happy to share these photos with you, but would kindly ask you only to use them for your private pleasure. You can purchase professional print-out´s though, and all profit´s will help finance this homepage or go straight into Charity.
Photos: Jim Clark, Paul Clark, John Whistler, Lee Ann Day-Whistler and Carol Morrison.