Cicero’s Gift completes Coral Challenge comeback

Cicero’s Gift provided a reminder of his quality when making a winning return in the Coral Challenge at Sandown.

Charlie Hills’ four-year-old was last seen suffering plenty of interference when finishing down the field in the 2023 St James’s Palace Stakes and was sent off 11-2 back down in handicap company after 382 days off the track.

Nursed into the race by young weighing room star Billy Loughnane, the class of the colt came to the fore in the closing stages as he secured a half-length verdict over Karl Burke’s Holloway Boy.

Cicero’s Gift’s trainer was eyeing taking his charge to a conditions race at Goodwood next but now sights may have to be raised, with an ambitious tilt at the Sussex Stakes a possibility.

“He’s a very special horse and on his second start he beat Docklands giving him 9lbs, he has tremendous ability,” said Hills.

“It wasn’t really my plan to come here and there was a perfect race for him at Glorious Goodwood over one-mile-one, a conditions race for horses who have never won a Group or Listed race. My dad (former trainer Barry) rang me up and said it might be very hard to win that race first time, so why not give him a spin at Sandown?

“The fact he has gone and won is full testament to this horse. He’s not fully wound up and to win a race like this off top-weight is a tremendous achievement.”

He went on: “We’ve some money in the pot now so we might have to supplement him for something. The main thing is to keep him on something with a bit of cut in the ground. If the ground came up soft we could supplement him in the Sussex.

“I just can’t believe he has been able to win today with the work he has done, it astonishes me really.”

There was little doubt about the winner of the opening Coral Play “Racing-Super-Series” For Free Handicap as William Haggas’ Swindon refused to be passed as he galloped out for a length-and-a-half success.

Sent off 11-2 in the hands of David Egan, he relished the return to seven furlongs as he made every yard of the running.

“I thought he would enjoy the ground today and he just got a nice easy lead, stayed the trip well and did it nicely,” said Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband.

“He looked happy in front and they left him alone in front which was great. He’s a little bit of a worrier and a busy horse.

“He won as a two-year-old and looked a nice horse and has just taken his time to get back in the groove this time. He ran better last time and it was just a case of finding what suits him.

“I’m pretty sure he is in the sale this month so we will have to get him home, talk to the owners and see what they want to do.”