THE BEGINNING

Well, how do great things start?? Small, in fact with a small investment into a little chestnut foal, and a huge dream - even though Terry would be the first to admit that never ever in his wildest dreams he would have imagined the journey Sergeant Cecil would take him on to.

As Cecil´s breeder Mr. Hazzard was a family friend of the Coopers, Terry was familiar with the horses dam long before she gave birth to her first foal, by King´s Signet in 1999. The first time Terry set eyes on the little, yet unnamed fellow was when he was 3 month old, and some time later Terry purchased him privately, for a mere 1500 GBP. This must have been some of the best-spent fifteen hundred pound in horse racing history!

After being named Sergeant Cecil was sent to be trained by Seamus J W Mullins, more of a jumps trainer who still holds a licence to send horses out from Wilsforst-Cum-Lake, in Wiltshire. His tender handling of the horse may well have been the foundation to the longevity and appetite for racing that does sparkle Cecil´s racing to the very day.

Seamus sent The Cecil out only twice as a youngster, and late in the year 2001 it was, though with not much success at first; in fact it was only after the switch to Rod Millman that the places, and ultimately the wins started to rattle in. Cecil´s 3-year-old career consisted of 9 races, from March 2002 up to the 28th of October, and these runs resulted in five places. Cecil needed two more outings as a 4-year-old in 2003, before he finally got his big day, and his first win, it arrived on the 27th of May 2007, in Sandown over 1m6f, on good to firm ground, with none other than Richard Hughes on board to steer The Cecil out to a 1 1/4 length win over a certain Reveillez, who is now a profilic chaser with James Fanshaw. This was followed by a fine 2nd, again at Sandown, and Richard Hughes again partnered The Cecil for his next win, on the 03rd of July, Sandown again and again at the expense of a now well-know chaser, this time in the shape of Mr Ed.

As every owner and follower of horseracing knows, winning is never easy on a horse competing in Handicaps, as with every good performance the weight a horse has to carry rises (see chapter -> King of the Handicap´s as well). Many gutsy and honorable performances did result in several places and some wins (from 46 lifetime starts The Cecil has won 10 races so far, with 14 second and 6 third places), and it was only in 2005 when The Cecil rose above the "normal", hard-working Handicappers to create his very own piece of racing history. His meteorical rise to fame had begun!

Facts about The Cecils racing career:

- His first race was at the 24th of September 2001 in Kempton. Sergeant Cecil was ridden by S Righton and he finshed 8th of 11 (only) 11,1/2 length and a head behind the winner Mananan McLir.

- Sergeant Cecil's first win would come in his 14th race, on the 27 of May 2003.

- Sergeant Cecil has won over 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 furlongs.

- He has won races in England and France; four times at York´s Knavesmire, twice in Sandown, and once in Ascot, Newcastle, Newmarket (Rowely Mile) and Paris-Longchamp each.

- Sergeant Cecil has been ridden by 13 different jockeys so far; Martin Dwyer, Fran Ferris, Pat Eddery and Ryan Moore have ridden him only once, and Alan Munro has been by far his most regular jockey with 13 rides so far. Alan Munro and Frankie Dettori have won 3 times each on him so far, and Jimmy Fortune was in the saddle on two winning occasions (from 6 rides in total)

- Sergeant Cecils widest winning margin has been 1 1/2 length so far; his shortest a shd!

- 12 of Sergeant Cecil´s races have been Stakes races so far: he won 4, was 2nd 3 times and 3rd once.