'The Old Man Will Be Looking Down': Hills Basks In QEII Win Of 100-1 Shot Cicero's Gift

Adding another bizarre twist to the 2025 Qipco British Champions Day, the 100-1 shot Cicero's Gift (Muhaarar) swooped under Jason Watson to conquer for the sport's revered Hills family in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Not really in the vicinity of the best of these on form, Rosehill Racing's gelding outstayed The Lion In Winter (Sea The Stars) in the final furlong to register the second of the card's major upsets by 1 1/4 lengths. Alakazi (Footstepsinthesand) was a neck away in third as the big favourites all failed to fire.

The stunning result comes only weeks after the passing of the legendary Barry Hills and his son Charlie was understandably looking at the bigger picture. “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'd say he would be chuffed,” he said of the five-year-old, who had warmed up for this by taking the Listed Fortune Stakes at Sandown last month. “This horse has been a very talented horse, but he has been a challenge, as he is not the soundest. I thought he might want a bit more cut in the ground than this, but the race has worked out perfectly.”

Labelled a TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard, at two, Cicero's Gift contested the St James' Palace Stakes here in 2023 and that is where his unbeaten tag went and bad luck set in. From his five starts last term, there was a Sandown handicap success and four off-the-board efforts culminating remarkably in this card's closing Balmoral Handicap in which he was a well-beaten seventh.

Gelded in the winter, he had shown sparks once more with a third in the Sandown Mile and a second in the Prix Quincey prior to his return to Sandown and winning ways last time, but this was at least another two levels up from that and it could be argued that his odds weren't particularly generous on paper. What he did have was stall one and with The Lion In Winter coming from next door the question has to be asked as to whether he was advantaged by the ground against the far rail.

Having also benefitted from a hold-up ride with the pace on up front, Cicero's Gift was able to produced the race's fastest sectional from the three to the two and fastest penultimate split before his stamina really came into play. With Alakazi having emerged from stall seven, it is interesting that the horses placed fourth to seventh were all drawn in high numbers.

They include the race's disappointment, the returning 13-8 favourite Field Of Gold (Kingman) who was beaten just under three lengths in fifth, and Rosallion (Blue Point) who ran flat in sixth. Whether or not this outcome was heavily influenced by a far-rail bias may never be known, but there was no disguising the winner's dominance at the line as he turned another of the season's mile Group 1s into a shockfest.

“You have to be surprised when he was that price in a race of that calibre, but the team at home know this horse so well and he's been in great order,” Watson said. “He had every right to be in this race, but we were looking for more rain and it's unbelievable. I can't help but feel that Barry Hills, who we lost this year, is looking down.”

Hills seems happy to call it a day for the year. “We will probably put him away,” he said. “When he won his second race, he beat Docklands giving him nine pounds at Wolverhampton and he was very unsound one year and so there has been a lot of patience with him. I think the Sandown race he won has quite a good record going into this race. It is just a yard syndicate we set up and this is the first one we have had. There will be a good celebration in Lambourn later.”

Field Of Gold was coming back for the first time since the Sussex, where he had also played second-fiddle to a longshot and John Gosden was inclined to blame the lay-off for his relatively tame effort. “I think it was just the lack of a recent race that told, as he travelled into it very well,” he said. “I wasn't happy with the draw on the wing, 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.”

“The race will put him 100 percent right,” he added. “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 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. Del Mar is the tightest turf track in the country over there and as for next year, there is no decision yet.”

100/1 WINNER!

CICERO'S GIFT WINS THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II STAKES!@Champions_Day @Ascot | @cbhills @_JasonWatson pic.twitter.com/ZbBmpLa4JB

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 18, 2025

Pedigree Notes
Cicero's Gift, who becomes the fourth Group 1 winner for his sire, is out of Terentia (Diktat) who is also responsible for the Listed-placed Crossing The Line (Cape Cross). The second dam is the Oh So Sharp Stakes winner Agrippina (Timeless Times), who produced the dual Listed scorer and Ballyogan Stakes-placed Cartmandua (Medicean), in turn the dam of the July Stakes third Elronaq (Invincible Spirit).