Sergeant Cecil: 'It was a privilege to train a horse like him - he was special'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Sergeant Cecil.

Rod Millman stops short of saying who’d play him in a film, but “there was talk of it at one stage”.

The unlikely feelgood story of Sergeant Cecil was told in hardback form in 2007 when a book about the remarkable stayer was produced.

It was a story well worth recounting and Millman, based not far from Junction 28 of the M5 in Devon, never tires of the telling.

The son of a permit holder, Millman rode on the Flat and over jumps in the 1970s and 1980s before taking out a licence to train in 1989.
Since then he has forged a reputation as a hard-working, capable and respected operator, having taken a host of valuable prizes back to the West Country.

However, even if Millman finds a Triple Crown hero or Grand National winner, he will be associated forever with Sergeant Cecil.

“He used to get lots of fan mail and one lady did a fantastic website for him. He had a hell of a profile – he was a fans’ favourite, wasn’t he?” Millman asks rhetorically.

Sergeant Cecil in his box with Rod MillmanCredit: Edward Whitaker

The gelding’s journey to familiarity was a long one, starting with his humble origins.

By King’s Signet, a useful sprinter for Sheikh Mohammed but an unfashionable sire, Sergeant Cecil was out of Jadidh, who initially raced for the late Hamdan Al Maktoum but then competed at a low level for Don Hazzard. He sold their progeny – for small money – to Terry Cooper, who had a fitting tribute to his deceased father in mind when it came to naming his acquisition.

Sergeant Cecil Edward Cooper was a veteran of two World Wars but died when his son was a child.

The poignantly named juvenile began his career in Wiltshire with Seamus Mullins, but after six starts, including four as a three-year-old, the owner decided a change was needed.

“Poor old Seamus got the horse and broke him in and did a really good job with him – exactly the same job I’d have done with him,” says Millman. “He just needed a trip. The owner got a little impatient after an ordinary run and wrote to Nerys Dutfield and David Elsworth about having the horse. Apparently they never got back to him, but I was visiting Paradise Stud, where he was having his break, and met Terry, whom I invited down to my place for a look around.

“Cecil was just a cheeky three-year-old. He was a gelding but he was a bit frisky and coltish, a bit of a playboy. The more we worked him, the more he settled down and he was ready to go on again, although Seamus had done nothing wrong and was unlucky the horse was moved.”

The legendary Pat Eddery was the first jockey to ride Sergeant Cecil for his new stable, finishing second on the lightly raced handicapper at Chepstow in August 2002.

Owner Terry Cooper and jockey Alan Munro with Sergeant Cecil after the Ebor at YorkCredit: Edward Whitaker

“He kept being placed, but every run was encouraging and we tried to make him faster, make him stride out a bit more,” says Millman. “His Racing Post Rating kept creeping up all the time and the owner might have been getting frustrated, but he won in the May of his four-year-old campaign under Richard Hughes. He was soon in the 80s, when I thought life might get harder taking on better horses, but he won again at Sandown and was improving all the time.”

Millman does not remember a wow moment on his Cullompton gallops and there was a danger the horse’s consistency until his six-year-old season – 13 places from 21 starts for the yard but just three wins – would not be fully rewarded.

“I never thought he’d reach the heights he did, but I thought he’d be a good strong handicapper and he was a very tough horse – we worked him harder than any other horse I’ve had,” he says.

“He ate well, though. A girl called Sharon Steele rode him and her boyfriend rode a horse called Factual Lad, and they did a great job as we worked them as a team. Cecil was a reasonably good work horse. He was exuberant and we always let him win his work, which made him feel cock-a-hoop as Factual Lad had more toe.

“All this time Terry Cooper was like, ‘I just want to win one big one’. It was gradual improvement as, don’t forget, when you’re dealing with a stayer you don’t have terrific speed.”

So, what clicked?

“The main turning point was when Alan Munro came back from Hong Kong to ride him,” Millman says without hesitation. “A super chap, Alan was the catalyst because he rode him cold and got Cecil settled.”

Not long after, Cooper was able to celebrate his ‘big one’ when Sergeant Cecil weaved his way through the field in the 2005 Northumberland Plate, staying on strongly under an inspired Munro.

“It was a brilliant ride,” remembers Millman, not the only one to owe horse and jockey – who became famous through his association with 1991 Derby hero Generous – a debt of gratitude.

Tom Segal, then in the early stages of his Pricewise career, had landed on Sergeant Cecil, who did not stop at Newcastle, going on to complete an unprecedented treble in the Ebor and Cesarewitch that season before Group 1 glory in the Prix du Cadran on Arc day in 2006.

Sergeant Cecil completes his big handicap treble with victory in the 2005 CesarewitchCredit: Edward Whitaker

“Impartiality is a big part of being a punter or a tipster, there simply is no place in getting too attached to any horse because if you do your judgement can get skewed,” says Segal.

“However, having been studying horseracing for well over 30 years now, you can’t help but get emotionally attached to some horses and Sergeant Cecil was certainly one of those.

“It wasn’t long into my time as the Pricewise tipster in the Racing Post that he came along and there is no doubt he greatly enhanced my reputation with his amazing handicap hat-trick.

“He’d been on my radar for some time but it was on Motivator’s Derby day that he really leaped into my consciousness. He looped the whole field around Tattenham Corner at Epsom, seemingly running about 50 yards further than all the rest, and ended up finishing third in a red-hot 20-runner handicap.

“There have been better stayers this millennium but none with the back story, amazing constitution or longevity of Sergeant Cecil. For those reasons he’ll always be my number one.”

He fills the same place in Millman’s heart, even if connections didn’t dare to dream too far beyond the Northumberland Plate.

“He was a horse you wanted to run every three weeks because he’d get too fresh if you let him down too long and you’d have to work him extra hard to get the fitness level back again,” says the 64-year-old trainer. “We went to Glorious Goodwood and had the plan of the Ebor and Cesarewitch, but we never thought we’d win the treble.

“Looking back it was all so easy because he just flew and it flowed. We didn’t have to do anything special – I wish it went like that every time. There were no setbacks, cut legs or lost shoes. Everything was rising and I’d been training for quite a long time before he came along, but he increased the yard’s profile.

“I was confident of winning the Cesarewitch because I knew he’d get the trip. In that race you get a lot of non-stayers, so it can get messy, but Cecil had a turn of foot at the distance and every time he overtook a horse it made him even better and stronger.

Sergeant Cecil (second right) win the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp in 2006

Sergeant Cecil (second right): wins the 2006 Prix du Cadran at Longchamp under Frankie DettoriCredit: Edward Whitaker

“It was a wonderful feeling coming back from Newmarket that day, but not so the next morning when my son Patrick had his first ride in a pony race at Hereford. The hangover was a bit thick, so the wife drove up!”

If a full stop then had to be put at the end of the final chapter of the story no-one would have minded, especially when Munro – a key character in the joyous tale – became sidelined.

“We were then in Group races and initially things didn’t go his way because in handicaps they go fast and then fade, while in conditions races they tend to go a bit slower and then quicken, which didn’t make him so dangerous against Group horses,” says Millman.

“I was a bit worried he’d reached his level and, to be honest, it looked like he had. I thought, ‘We’ve had a good run and might have to go back handicapping’, but don’t forget he was still running well and winning plenty of prize-money in those Group races.”

The closing credits were not due, though, and the script called for a cameo role from one of the sport’s biggest names.

“Alan was stood down, so that’s when Frankie Dettori came in,” the trainer says. “Frankie had ridden the odd winner for me, but bear in mind we don’t have the horses Frankie would want to ride very often, although he was excited by the ride.

“When he rode him in the Lonsdale Cup at York he got him to settle. Frankie’s got fantastic hands and rode him to perfection and, however good Cecil was, I could see Frankie was going to get the best out of him.

“He then won the Doncaster Cup, which was switched to York, so we thought we’d have a go at the Cadran. I’d had runners in France before but never a winner and it was quite a thing to plan for a smaller trainer like me.

“At Longchamp there didn’t seem to be much security and the public could come through the yard and stroke your horse on the nose if you weren’t careful. I had kittens, so someone was camped outside his box all the time, but it was a great day and Frankie gave him an amazing ride, winning going away.”

Reflecting a touch longer on that particular Parisian afternoon, Millman adds: “That was the best day we had with him. The crowd that afternoon was mostly made up of Brits and we got an ovation like we’d won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I’ve never seen so many people cheering and patting me on the back. It was a real buzz – the best day I’ve had racing. On the Flat things aren’t maybe as enthusiastic as over jumps, but people knew him and he was the horse of a lifetime for us.

“It was a privilege to train a horse like him. He knew he was good and horses twig on that they’re special because people treat them like they’re special, and he was special – in box number two right next to my bedroom window. He increased my profile and we got extra horses off the back of it. There was some pressure because Terry was quite intense, but I’ll never forget Sergeant Cecil; he’s what I’m known for.”

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

Canford Cliffs: 'He was one of the best racehorses in the last 50 years'

Taghrooda: 'She turned towards the stands and everyone was going absolutely mad'

Kingman: 'There are some in the camp who think he'd have beaten Frankel'

Brando: 'Kevin always maintained he was going to turn into a right beast'

Tropics: 'I saw something that day I hadn't seen much – he worked like a train'

Sole Power: 'He wasn't your normal horse – he was more box office than that'

Accidental Agent: the outsider who took on and beat racing elite at Royal Ascot

Duke Of Firenze: a white knuckle-ride with plenty of dash

Lord Glitters: the 'phenomenal' horse who likes to get into a bit of trouble

Kingsgate Native: 'We jumped in the pool and ordered some champagne'

Laurens: the gritty northern lass who blossomed into a Classic winner