Horse Racing: Time May Be Right for Return of Cecil Glory Days

There will be racegoers at Epsom this afternoon who just don't get the whole Henry Cecil thing. In their early to mid-20s, they have found their way to racing and betting during Cecil's leaner years and, like punters everywhere, they judge people by results. The names that leap out at them from a racecard are Stoute and O'Brien, not H R A Cecil, who has not won an English Classic for seven years.

But if they do not get it now, they may well start to understand at 4.10pm this afternoon. Cecil will saddle both the favorite, Passage Of Time, and the third-favorite, Light Shift, in the Oaks. Victory for either will clear the bars and the boxes as thousands of fans converge on the winner's enclosure.

To understand the deep affection that the racing public still holds for Henry Cecil, both as a trainer and a person, it was probably necessary to be racing in the 1980s and 1990s. Then, a strike-rate above 30% for Warren Place was considered the norm and there were seasons like 1987, when backing all of Cecil's runners to a £1 stake showed a profit of more than £50.

Many punters, of course, were having rather more than a pound on. For them, the letters "HRAC" were far more significant than anything to be gleaned from the form book.

"I was still at school in those days but I can remember them as great days," says Harry Dunlop, who spent three years as Cecil's assistant before setting up as a trainer in his own yard last year.

"It wasn't just the big races. You'd see him send three runners to somewhere like Nottingham too and all three of them would win, no trouble at all, which meant that he was always the punters' favorite as well as being pretty unique in getting them ready for the big day.

"I think he has a natural affinity with horses, especially fillies, and he has an amazing ability to get it right. He can back off them and then bring them back up to a peak on the day that really matters."

Cecil trained three English Classic winners in the 1970s, 11 in the 1980s, and eight in the 1990s. In 1999, he won three of the five Classics and finished second in the other two. Yet in the background the decline had begun, first when Sheikh Mohammed removed his entire string in 1995 and then when several of Cecil's longest-standing owners died in the space of two or three years.

"People ask why he went into a decline but it was pretty obvious when you were close to it," Wille Ryan, a stable stalwart for 20 years, says. "People like Louis Freedman, Jim Joel, Lord Howard de Walden, they were all great owner- breeders who had had so many good horses over so many years.

"I just have so much respect for him, as a trainer but also as a person as much as anything. He's always taken everything on the chin and in all the time I worked with him, I could count the number of arguments we had on the fingers of one hand.

"I think he knows how much affection the racing public still has for him and he appreciates it. I remember when he won the Champion Stakes with Bosra Sham, the atmosphere was incredible. You just knew that the general public wanted him to win so much."

It is not just a British phenomenon, either. It is 20 years since Steve Cauthen won the Derby on Cecil's Reference Point but, from his stud farm in Kentucky, the former champion jockey is also following Cecil's fortunes with keen interest.

"We had great success together and so to see him going through rough times has been hard for everybody to watch," he says. "But it happens in racing, these things go in cycles and it doesn't mean he's lost his ability.

"Henry was unique, he had his own genius, no question. They were all trained to the minute and I knew I could count on them performing 100% all the time. We had six years when everything was pretty much running like clockwork.

"One memory that really sticks with me is after Slip Anchor won the Derby in 1985, which was the first win in the race for both of us. He walked up and patted me on the leg and said 'well done, old fruit ', which was a typical Henry statement.

"It would be fantastic for him if he could win another Classic. And if he does, I'll have to call him up and say the same thing."

Cecil's angels

Henry Cecil has trained seven fillies to win the Oaks, an unparalleled record in modern times.

2000
Love Divine

The most recent of Cecil's 23 Classic winners. Her son Sixties Icon runs in today's Coronation Cup

1999
Ramruma

Also won Irish and Yorkshire Oaks

1997
Reams Of Verse

Scored at 5-6 under Kieren Fallon

1996
Lady Carla

Won by nine lengths but only beat three horses in her next three races

1989
Snow Bride

Was readily beaten by Aliysa but the winner was disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance

1988
Diminuendo

Won eight of her 12 races

1985
Oh So Sharp

The only filly to land the Triple Crown in the last 50 years