Three years and twenty four starts after making his debut , Cerdan has finally crossed the line in first place.
The frustration of six earlier "runner up" placings was wiped away after a perfect front running ride by visiting Australian jockey Ben Melham who was having his first race ride in Singapore. Melham was actually the eighteenth rider to sit on Cerdan in a race. Previous unsuccessful riders included the winners of six Melbourne
Cups the Epsom Derby a few Caulfield Cups, a Cox Plate and many other major Group races.
Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman seems to have worked out the key to having Cerdan reach his potential and had him ready to win. Well spaced races and a light preparation to keep him fresh being the key.
Cerdan has had a few setbacks in his career with a couple of extended absences after going under the knife to remove bone chips from the knee and later to repair a slab fracture. Despite the setbacks the horse had always shown just enough to stave off a float trip to Malaysia.
The fact that Cerdan even made it into the world is somewhat of a minor miracle. Arexevan Racing Director Graeme Blanche had sent our broodmare Folie D'Amour to an ageing Danewin who was battling very low fertility statistics in the twilight of his career. Whilst FolieD'Amour was able to get in foal to Danewin and ultimately produce Cerdan, over the next two seasons she pretty much went through the whole stallion line up at Emirates Park without getting into foal and was retired as a broodmare.
Folie D'Amour (English - Folly Of Love) is actually the naming inspiration for Cerdan who is named after France's greatest boxer Marcel Cerdan who won 113 times from 117 starts. Cerdan met an untimely end whilst "chasing love" when the Lockheed Constellation he was traveling in crashed en-route to the USA where he was headed for a liaison with his mistress Edith Piaf.
With a bit of luck Cerdan may be able to repeat the visit to the winner's enclosure sometime before the end of the decade.
Cerdan has taken his career earnings to over S$79,000, is trained by Lee Freedman and owned by Arexevan Racing, David Brooker, John Fox, Ian McDonald, Tim Charlton, Charlie Brazier, Jorge Ng, Grant Kelly and David Dawson.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH CERDAN WINNING ON THE 30th MARCH,2018.
