Bookmaker Fitzdares has paid tribute to the late racing icon Sir Henry Cecil in a new documentary series. It’s new ‘honour’ series will see a number of short documentaries voiced by BAFTA and Olivier award-winning actor Toby Jones.

Episode one features a tribute to the late flat racing trainer Sir Henry Cecil. The documentary will be housed on the Fitzdares website and across Sky Racing’s digital channels. A shorter version will be broadcast on the November 20 launched during the Ascot jumps meeting.

Fitzdares CEO William Woodhams stated: “We are so proud to present such a wonderful tribute to such a legendary man. Sir Henry captured the imagination of a nation and is an icon of our wonderful industry and particularly Royal Ascot. 

“At Fitzdares we are not big fans of bookmaker advertising and decided to invest instead in our ‘honour’ series of short documentaries to celebrate the real heroes and icons of sport. It is fitting that our first is Sir Henry Cecil.”

The idea came to fruition after both the Fitzdares team and its members were asked who their ‘icon of racing’ was, with a large percentage voting for Sir Henry. In response Fitzdares decided to pay tribute to him with a short documentary and advert.

The documentary looks to tell the tales of Sir Henry’s life, his ability to overcome his twin brother’s death and his own battle with cancer, his fighting spirit aided by his wife Jane, and also his great partnership with the ‘wonder horse’ Frankel. 

This project raises money for Sir Henry’s favourite charity, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, who will feature in the documentary. The film has been developed using footage supplied from the Sky TV archive and the script was created by Tony Rushmer, author of The Triumph of Henry Cecil – the Authorised Biography.

2021 will see Fitzadare plan more ‘honour’ films, with tributes to legends of football and National Hunt racing.