Cicero’s Gift stuns QEII field with 100-1 win

Cicero’s Gift was another shock winner on British Champions Day at Ascot with a 100-1 strike in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Trained by Charles Hills and ridden by Jason Watson, the bay was an outsider in a field of 16 with a draw of stall one.

From there he hugged the rail throughout and began to make real progress from the two-furlong marker, hitting the front with a furlong left to run and holding off all challengers as The Lion In Winter was second and Alakazi was third.

Cicero’s Gift’s surprise win followed on from 200-1 shot Powerful Glory’s triumph in the British Champions Sprint earlier in the afternoon.

Hills said: “I’ve always had a lot of belief in this horse, I just thought he might want a bit more cut in the ground than this.

“The race worked out perfectly and I’m so chuffed for Jason. I don’t know where we’ll go next, we’ll probably put him away.

“It’s amazing that he’s won at 100-1 and he’s not even the biggest priced winner of the day! We were thinking there’s already been a 200-1 winner, so that counts us out.

“The owners are a yard syndicate we set up to get a few horses together and this was the first year we did it with him.

“This race was always the plan all year but I was hoping it would be softer, it was always his end goal we just couldn’t believe the ground, it’s normally so soft.

“When he won his second race he beat Docklands giving him 9lb and the Sandown race he won last time has produced several horses who have run well in this.”

Hills’ father Barry died earlier in the year, and his son took comfort in the idea that he would be very proud of the victory, saying: “It’s been a really tough year for us at home, but we’re a tight family and we’ve stuck strong.

“The old man would be looking down and would be so chuffed, I’d say. He’d be terribly proud of his family – Michael, Richard, George, we’re a good unit and always try to do the best for each other. I think he’d be over the moon. It’s fantastic for Jason, too.”

An emotional Watson added: “You have to be surprised as he’s 100-1 in a proper class race, but all I can say is the team at home know this horse so well and said this year had been a lot better for him and he’d been in great order.

“I want to mention Barry Hills who we lost earlier in the season, I can’t help but think he’s looking down on us today.

“It had been a while since he had won before he won at Sandown. He had every right to be in this but we were looking for a bit more rain, it just slows the others down.

“I knew when I made my challenge two down and we started to make up ground, I was hoping I hadn’t gone too soon on him but he sees out the mile well.

“The form he’d been in leading up to this, he felt like he had younger legs today.

“I feel like I’ve had a point to prove ever since I parted ways with Mr (Roger) Charlton a few years ago. Even though I’ve had good years and good winners, it’s taken a bit of time for me to get the ball rolling again. I know how good I am, it’s just trying to relay that on the track.

“Andrew Balding has been a great supporter of mine this year, as well as Charlie and David Menuisier, there’s a lot of people to thank, as well as the owners.

“Charlie’s always loved him and when you look back at his run in the St James’s Palace a few years ago he was very unlucky, so he’s always had the class.”