Cicero's Gift sprang another major surprise on Champions Day by winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at 100/1.
Cicero's Gift, trained by Charlie Hills and ridden by Jason Watson, was stepping up markedly in class having won the listed Fortune Stakes at Sandown last month but proved up to the task, leading home The Lion In Winter with Alakazi in third and Docklands in fourth.
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Field of Gold, sent off the 13/8 favourite in the 16-runner line-up, tried to challenge towards the centre of the course, away from the first two home who ended up by the far rail, but could never get on terms and finished fifth.
Cicero's Gift was the second massive-priced winner on Champions Day following Powerful Glory's 200/1 success in the Champions Sprint.
Watson, visibly emotional after riding his first Group 1 winner since landing the 2019 Fillies' Mile on Quadrilateral, said: "I'm very lucky to keep the ride on this horse today - a massive thank you to connections and to Charlie for being a good supporter of mine this season.
"Nicola, who has been at Charlie's for a long time and rides the horse out everyday, said he was in the best form of his whole life. Credit to her and the team at home. He came into this so well. I worked him the other day and was so happy with him."
Reflecting on a difficult spell since bursting onto the scene and winning the apprentice championship in 2018, Watson added: "My mum and dad have been good supporters of mine over the years, I didn't grow up in the industry and it was really difficult when I was younger to have the success that I did and lose it pretty quickly.
"I've been trying to build on it for the last few years to get back to the position I know I'm capable of, and I hope I proved to some people I'm as good as I used to be. Mum always says to me 'if you're in it you can win it', and she was right today."
'The old man will be looking down'
The victory also meant a lot to Hills, whose father, the legendary trainer Barry, died in June. The winning trainer said: “This horse has been a very talented horse, but he has been a challenge, as he is not the soundest.
“It has been a really tough year for all of us and as a family we have stuck strong. The old man will be looking down and I say he would be chuffed. My mum is here today so it is great."
Hills had feared that Cicero's Gift, whose latest victory came on heavy ground, might need softer conditions to show his best, but the five-year-old was still able to deliver on the day he had been primed for. Hills added: “I thought he might want a bit more cut in the ground than this, but the race has worked out perfectly. I’m chuffed for Jason. I don’t know where we will go next. We will probably put him away.
“We thought there has been a 200/1 winner already so that counts us out. It is just a yard syndicate we set up and this is the first one we have had.
“This has been the target all year, and I was hoping it was going to be softer than it was today, but this was his end goal. To be honest we were thinking surely it is normally softer than this, but obviously he is getting better.
“He was very unsound one year and he had to have a whole year off. There has been a lot of patience with him.
“When he won his second race he beat Docklands giving him nine pounds at Wolverhampton. I think the Sandown race he won has quite a good record going into this race. I hope there will be a good celebration in Lambourn later."
Field of Gold flattens out
Reflecting on the performance of Field of Gold, running for the first time since a beaten odds-on favourite in the Sussex Stakes in July, John Gosden said: “I think it was just the lack of a recent race that told as he travelled into it very well. As I said I wasn’t happy with the draw on the wing of the field as he was always on the wing of the field throughout, but he has come there nicely and just got caught for not having a race since the end of July in a strongly run mile race like this.
“It is not easy being on the wing of it, but he has done nothing wrong. The race will put him one hundred percent right. He was lame after Goodwood and we had to give him the time to come sound and right from that before we could push on.
“He has still run a very nice race, but let’s face it he came here big and strong and this race will now have him spot on, but there are not too many races to go to.
“America around bends is a no. It was half mentioned, but I don’t think a two-turn mile would be his scene. He is a big powerful horse and Del Mar is the tightest turf track in the country over there. There is no decision on next year yet.”
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