WON: Ark De Triumph(G1), Spankie-Sho All Comers(G2), Cedora D Stakes(G1), Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic(G1), Big Turf Race(G1), Flounder Turf Distaff(G1), Yabba Dabba Doo Handicap(G2), The British Columbia 1061 Cap, The MEZZO Handicap, The IRISH FABERGE Stakes
2nd: Demona Handicap(G1), Pan Americana Handicap(G2)
3rd: A.S.R. Cup(G1), Miami Beach Turf Stakes(G2)
4th: Breeders Bowl Turf Distaff(G1)

By- Bucksplash

Some things are constant: the sun will rise, the grass will grow, and there will be debates regarding the Horse of the Year. Familiarity breeds contempt--except when the debate revolves around a horse that's really a mare. Whatever Cecil Roo takes away from the 2001 racing season, she'll walk off with one Eclipse firmly in hand: Older Turf Female. At three she was a powerhouse, a millionaire and then some, tops in her division by Surf the Turf records. She beat the fillies, beat them again, and when that became too easy, she beat the boys as well. "If it weren't for a championship season from...Alone That Baby," Autumnwind recalled, "the three-year-old Eclipse Award surely would have gone to the 'Roo." If only. But then, "This year, there doesn't seem to be anything standing in her way of the divisional Eclipse..."

And there isn't. Great wasn't enough last year, but no one told Cecil Roo, and she returned this year with a vengeance. And there isn't the turfer on four legs that could keep her from Eclipse glory.

On the track, the four-year-old is a dynamo, all coiled muscle and glossy blood bay hide, powerful neck bent against the reins. The show is deceptive; as we watched her gallop, the exercise rider more than once lifted a hand to smooth her dark mane or cuff kicked-up sand from his face. She worked brilliantly, stretching and lowering her body, flattening her ears and snorting with every stride. I followed her back to the barn, stood watching as her groom sloshed suds across her back, commented on her fire on the track. He looked at me, laughed, rubbed a hand down her lightning-bolt blaze. "That's all for fun. Look at her--she's really very kind, very friendly." He paused, savoring the words. "She's a good little filly." I can't imagine anyone would argue.

The numbers speak for themselves. Eleven wins, fourteen on the board finishes, in seventeen starts in 2001. Speed ratings that range up to a gaudy 112--a number most sprinters can't hope to touch, much less a twelve-furlong marathoner. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Cecil Roo faced the boys nine times--she won six of those events and claimed the show spot in a seventh. She beat all comers, including both past Eclipse turf mares and the favorite to win this year's male award, Her earnings at the end of the year? More than five million dollars. Her divisional ranking? Number one among distaff females. Her ranking at Surf the Turf? Number one among all turf horses, all ages--the best turf horse out there, bar none.

The sleek blood bay opened the year with a bang, scoring a four-length victory in a listed stakes at the classic distance of a mile and a quarter and following it up with a ten-length win going fourteen furlongs. Toplight was in business; his filly was ready to roll. She couldn't capture the immortal Saddle Dedicate for him, but she bounced back from that defeat to reel off three straight, equalling her best streak of the year, a run that included a smashing win in the Grade I Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic over the best the world had to offer.

Most fillies don't face colts even once during the year; Cecil Roo saw them every time she went to the track until her eighth start of the year. She won that one and the next with distain; it would be the last time she saw ungraded company in 2001.

She won in Europe. She won in Illinois. She shipped to California for a rousing second and then back overseas to win at the Breeder's Bowl Distance. She took on the very best again in the legendary Grade I Ark De Triumph on two week's rest...and outran them going away.

The Breeder's Bowl was a disappointment--and it's a measure of how fine a filly this is that a fourth-place finish in the big show can ever be "disappointing." Never mind; she took two months off and headed to northern Florida to pick up a third-place finish in the Grade II Miami Beach Turf Stakes to close out her year.

It doesn't get much better than this globe-trotting tour de force. Of course, that's probably what everyone thought last year. Truth is, it doesn't get much better than Cecil Roo.

She is kind, lipping at her exercise rider's shoulder as he walked towards his next mount; he paused to smooth her forelock and whisper into her neat ears. And she is friendly, standing in her stall hanging into the aisle with her elegant head and oversized ears--supposedly, a sign of intelligence in a filly; definitely, in this filly's case--and kicking up a fuss if anyone tried to pass without stopping to tell her how fine she is, how excellent a filly. And she is good--the best--number one, bar none. And now she has the Eclipse metal to prove it.

Race ID	Trk	RST	S	D	Race	Time	SP#	#	PP	C1	C2	C3	FIN	Jockey	Odds
1250.4604	NF	F-3yo+	T	12	Miami Beach Turf Stakes -G2	2:30 1/5	106	7	5	5 5-1/4	5 7-1/2	5 3-1/2	3 7-3/4	E Gillette	2.20
1194.0412	NY	F-3yo+	T	11	Breeders Bowl Turf Distaff -G1	2:15 3/5	104	14	14	8 6-1/2	7 10-1/2	5 11	4 10-3/4	B Child	3.60
1173.3513	E3	3yo+	T	12	Ark De Triumph -G1	2:30 3/5	109	11	4	4 4-1/2	3 6-1/2	3 3-1/2	1 1-3/4	B Lugosi	2.90
1159.5015	JP	F-3yo+	T	11	Spankie-Sho All Comers -G2	2:16 2/5	108	7	7	3 3	3 4	1 2-1/2	1 3-3/4	M Widell	1.40
1145.0115	CA	F-3yo+	T	9	Demona Handicap -G1	1:49 1/5	103	10	1	6 2	6 3-1/4	3 1-3/4	2 1-1/4	R Hoffman	2.10
1124.0714	IL	F-3yo+	T	9.5	Cedora D Stakes -G1	1:55 3/5	105	6	6	4 2-3/4	4 3-3/4	2 2	1 1-1/4	H Zoon	2.50
1103.3315	E1	3yo+	T	11	Royally Modest Cup -G1	2:15 4/5	101	14	13	10 6-1/4	7 10	5 12-1/4	5 12-1/2	R Williams	6.30
1082.4914	E5	F-3yo+	T	10.5	Flounder Turf Distaff -G1	2:09 4/5	106	7	5	5 5-3/4	5 8-1/2	3 4-3/4	1 4-1/4	K Mitchell	1.80
1061.6915	BC	F-3yo+	T	12	The British Columbia 1061 Cap -Stk	2:32 1/5	98	7	3	2 3-1/2	2 5	2 3/4	1 3-3/4	C Huey	.30
1040.3314	E1	F-3yo+	T	11	Yabba Dabba Doo Handicap -G2	2:16 4/5	106	9	4	5 4	4 5-1/4	2 3/4	1 3-1/4	M Day	1.60
1019.5415	A2	3yo+	T	16	-G1	3:28 4/5	107	14	10	9 4-3/4	7 7-1/2	2 7-3/4	3 6	K Williams	6.80
998.5314	A1	4yo+	T	14	Big Turf Race -G1	3:00 3/5	111	12	7	5 5	3 7-1/4	2 3-1/4	1 5-1/2	K Ryan	5.60
977.5112	DB	4yo+	T	12	Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic -G1	2:30 1/5	112	9	8	3 2	3 1-3/4	1 2-1/2	1 2-3/4	S Chesnut	9.30
956.4612	NF	3yo+	T	12	Pan Americana Handicap -G2	2:31 2/5	104	7	1	2 1/2	2 1/2	1 1-1/2	1 5	R Brown	2.40
949.3514	E3	4yo+	T	16	Can One Aussie Be This Silly…Twice Challenge -G1	3:30 1/5	93	14	5	5 4-1/2	5 7	7 8-3/4	6 17-1/2	J Cuervo	14.10
921.5012	JP	4yo+	T	14	The MEZZO Handicap -Stk	3:02 1/5	102	8	8	4 4-1/4	4 5-1/2	1 2	1 10-1/2	N Haller	3.30
900.5812	GE	4yo+	T	10	The IRISH FABERGE Stakes -Stk	2:03 2/5	99	6	4	3 1-1/4	2 1-1/4	1 3	1 4-1/4	M Cobb	3.80