Total Eclipse of the heart

By Alan Conway

There are times when things just work out they way everyone wants them to. In the same week when the Racing Post paid tribute to the career of Henry Cecil, the legendry trainer rounded off the week by taking the Coral Eclipse with Twice Over. It was a fitting end to a week when the great and good of racing stepped forward and offered up their own memories of the great man. Everyone spoke with great respect, awe and even a hint of reverence for a man who has suffered both professional and personal setbacks which would have finished most people. Henry Cecil is not like most people however.

Since he started training in 1969 Henry Richard Amherst Cecil has been at the forefront of horse racing. A career which started with Wolver Hollow taking the Eclipse bloomed to the highest of highs and has been punctured with some notable lows. For people of a certain generation Henry Cecil was “the man”. Royal Ascot, The Derby, colts, fillies, short distances or long distances Henry could train them all. And he has done for more than 30 years.

During his career he has trained horses that still send the mind down memory lane. Think Reference Point and Slip Anchor in the Derby. Bosra Sham in the Prince of Wales and the QEII. How about Le Moss and Ardross in their respective Ascot Gold Cups? He has provided us with some wonderful memories and through them he became the punters pal. The reliable Henry.

He also shaped and guided some of the greatest jockeys to put on a pair of silks. Stevie Cauthen, Kieren Fallon, Pat Eddery and of course Lester Piggot have all been at Warren Place and improved during their time there. A champion training future champions.

It hasn’t all run smoothly for Henry Cecil. The loss of Sheik Mohammad as a patron of his yard, around the same time when the likes of Lord Howard De Walen and other owner breeders scaled back their operations was a huge blow. Combine this with a number of personal setbacks which included a messy divorce and sadly the death of his twin brother, Cecil slipped off the radar. Some felt that he would never return to the force of old. How wrong they were.

The first shoots of recovery happened when Mulitdimensonal captured a Group 2 at Deauville in August 2006. Things got better when Passage Of Time won a Group 1 at Saint Cloud. Cecil may not have been back, but he was on his way.

Life had another surprise however for Cecil when he was diagnosed with cancer. Again Cecil would fight back. This time he had the racing public behind him. If he didn’t know this he would when his horse Light Shift took the Oaks in 2007.

There are moments in sport that stay with you. That day in June was one of them. The reception that Henry Cecil received in the winner’s enclosure was truly heart warming. It was a moment between a man and a public who had shared good and bad times and had come out the other side together. Many a tear was shed by Cecil. He knew the regard in which he was held. A feel good moment that will live on.

Light Shift’s victory proved a great springboard for Cecil and he now has re-established himself as a force in world racing. None more so than when Midday gave Cecil his first victory at the Breeder’s Cup last November. Midday will hold a place in my heart because it was thanks to her running in last year’s Irish Oaks that I met Henry Cecil. He was a true gentleman, holding court for a few minutes before departing. It was a highlight not just of a day but a lifetime. Heny Cecil is back where he belongs. We are all the better for it.

By Alan Conway