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Cancer victim ‘looking down on us’ after dad and son win together at Royal Ascot

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Cancer victim ‘looking down on us’ after dad and son win together at Royal Ascot

Crystal Black was bought as a tribute to a friend of the four winning owners from the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, who had raised money for cancer care

Jockey Colin Keane and father Gerard (left) with the Crystal Black owners at Royal Ascot(RACINGFOTOS.COM)

  • By

    Jon Lees

Irish champion jockey Colin Keane enjoyed “the best kick I’ve had out of a winner” when he recorded his first Royal Ascot win on a horse saddled by his Dad on a horse bought in memory of a cancer victim.

The Gerard Keane-trained Crystal Black had won four times for the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate in Ireland. And he scored his fifth and biggest success when he captured the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, his fourth victory in a row.

Colin Keane said: “He has been a dream for these lads. That’s the biggest kick I’ve had out of riding a winner, doing it for the old man. It’s a very special day.”

The victory triggered one of the wildest celebrations of the week among his four owners Neville Eager, Conor Duffy, Harvey Stephenson and Tom Fallon.

One of the horses they were previously involved with was the globetrotting Willie Mullins-trained mare True Self, who won races in Australia and Saudi Arabia in 2020 and 2021.

Breda Miley enjoyed the successes with the group but when she was undergoing cancer treatment they named a horse Wear A Pink Ribbon and then used the name for their syndicate.

Eager said: “It’s all a tribute to Breda Miley who was a friend of ours and travelled with True Self, which we had before. Breda was always there but ended up very sick and has since passed away.

“We raised money for the Cancer Society of Ireland which we gave to them in Willie Mullins’ one morning and Breda passed away shortly after that. It was her last visit. We bought this for her, four of us, myself, Conor Duffy, Harvey Stephenson and Tom Fallon. Her brother is at home, he texted me today. Yogi, they call him, he said Rita is looking down on us.”

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