Long shots were the order of the day at Royal Ascot on Day 4 and there was no bigger or better upset than the 33-1 shock winner of the Group I Coronation Stakes (1m) for three year-old fillies with the winner Cercene sired by Epsom Derby winner Australia and owned by Australian Shane Stafford.
Trained by Joe Murphy and ridden by Gary Carroll, Cercene had never won a stakes race prior to this, but she had shown good potential with a couple of Group placings and was a last start third in the Group I Irish Thousand Guineas to Lake Victoria.
She matched strides with the favourites coming into the business end of the race and did best on the inside to win by half a length over the Aga Khan Stud bred race favourite Zarigana (Siyouni) with the Aidan O’Brien trained January (Kingman) in third place.
It was a first Royal Ascot win for Joe Murphy and his family, who were ecstatic.
“It's 50 years of work by the family, going from a small yard, switching from National Hunt to Flat and always believing that buying horses and believing that they're going to be good. It's a lifetime's ambition to have a Group 1 winner,” Joe Murphy said.
“Cercene is by Australia, a sire I love, and her half-brother won the Britannia so the pedigree was there and if she was an inch bigger I wouldn't have her.
“I was hoping Lake Victoria stayed home because we'd have a lesser race and then we'd have place and ride her easier you know what I mean. She travelled well, Gary gave her a great ride, and we were thinking that being by Australia she'd stay as well. She was headed and came back again. She waited for something to head her but she's very tough and a dream to train. The plan was today so now we'll draw new plans.”
Bred by China Horse Club, Cercene was purchased by Crampscastle Bloodstock for € 50,000 from the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, a sale which also produced the winner of the Group I Commonwealth Cup, Time for Sandals (€ 35,000) and the Group I Queen Anne Stakes in Docklands (€ 16,000).
Shane Stafford bought into the filly after she made a promising debut last July and she carried his colours when breaking her maiden at Naas last September. Cercene now has the overall record of two wins and four placings from seven starts.
A retired Queensland cattle property owner that loves his racing, Shane Stafford was interviewed after the win.
Cercene is the 48th stakes-winner and seventh Group I winner for Galileo’s Epsom Derby winning son Australia, who sired this year’s Epsom Derby winner Lambourn.
She is a half-sister to Group III placed Perotto from Tschierschen, a winning half-sister by Acclamation to the dam of Group I Sussex Stakes winner Mohaather with Group I Royal Ascot Queen Anne Stakes winner Accidental Agent also on the page.
She has pedigree and now a G1 win on the resume, so Cercene is going to be a very valuable commodity when her racing days are done.
