It’s early days yet. But the mighty Frankel has already bested the record of first non-stakes winners in their first crop of both his sire, Galileo, and of one of Europe’s most consistent sires, Sea The Stars.
Of the 130 mares booked to Frankel in 2013, the first eight have hit the turf running, with seven winning on debut. The eighth, Last Kingdom, finished second in his first start. Two of the eight, Cunco and Queen Kindly, earned black type based on their performances at Royal Ascot, where they both finished third in two different stakes races. And all of this has sent the British press into the same tizzy of delight as they evinced during Frankel’s racing career.
It is easy to forget that Frankel represented over 40 years of breeding by his owner, HRH Prince Khalid Abdullah, making him a “jewel in the crown” like no other. Too, as we have indicated in previous articles about Frankel, the colt demanded the skill of the incomparable Sir Henry Cecil, of work-rider Shane Fetherstonhaugh and jockey, Tom Queally, to get his exuberance under control in a manner that didn’t quench his spirit and allowed him to dominate on the turf. In the early stages it was hard work, and the colt didn’t make his two year-old debut until mid-August of 2010 where he was shadowed home by the brilliant Nathaniel who, of all the Frankel challengers in his 14 starts, remains the colt who got closest to him.
Like everything else in his life, Frankel’s stud career has been meticulously planned. It was anticipated that 100 mares would be accepted from outside breeders, including Japan and America, and in all cases, preference was given to Group 1 winners and/or producers of Group 1 winners. (The remaining 30 would come from Juddmonte bloodstock.)
Said general manager of Banstead Manor Stud, Philip Mitchell, shortly after the champion’s retirement:
“We’d always try and keep a restriction on the number of mares he covers … This is an exclusive horse and we want to keep him exclusive.
“If someone is spending that level of nomination fee [£125,000] to use Frankel, you don’t want to get to a situation where you find a large number of his progeny being sold. By keeping him to 130, we won’t be flooding the market. Juddmonte are owner-breeders and we’ll aim to get the right balance between owner-breeders and commercial breeders.”
“… We have certain mares that whatever we send them to, they produce the business … For instance, Clepysydra is one of those mares. The stallion could be the best in the world but I feel it’s hugely important to get the right calibre of mare.
“It’s still early days for us [Juddmonte] with the matings for next year but Frankel will be getting first pick. We want to give Frankel every opportunity at stud and we’ll be supporting him as much as possible. But it is very difficult – we’re spoiled at the moment because we’ve also got Dansili and Oasis Dream and we can’t ignore them. It’ll be a balance.” (Racing Post, November 23, 2013)
As trainer John Gosden said of a recent Frankel winner, Seven Heavens, “He has a positive attitude on life and he likes to get on with things. He is a strong-willed horse and is like his father in that way. I think he (Frankel) will probably pass that on to his offspring.” (Sky Sports, July 8, 2016)
Bred by Cheveley Stud, Seven Heavens was a rare Juddmonte purchase at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last year. “Rare” because Juddmonte is a huge breeding enterprise all on its own, making the purchase worth noting. Seven Heavens is beautifully bred: his dam, Heaven Sent (2003), a daughter of Pivotal (1993), was a dual winner of the Dahlia Stakes. And Pivotal is a world-class leading sire, with 100 stakes winners to date, including Farhh (2008) and Excellent Art (2004).
Watching Seven Heavens’ debut was the kind of thing that makes you believe time and space really is curved: the youngster looks so much like Frankel and, unlike his other winning progeny to date, Seven Heavens shows that “pumping” action in his fore that we so associate with Frankel’s distinctive running style. Add to that the parallels in performance between Seven Heavens’ maiden race and that of Frankel’s own debut (above), and the picture is complete.
Video of Seven Heavens’ win, with the beautifully-bred Lockheed (Exceed and Excel/BM sire Motivator) chasing him home. (Please advance the video to 2:46 to see the whole race without the preamble, or click on the link under the video that just offers the race itself.)
Said his jockey, Robert Havlin, after the win:
“He’s a nice horse … They didn’t go very quick early on, and following Tom (Marquand on Monoshka) he was struggling after three and a half furlongs and couldn’t take me any further, so literally from the two-pole to the line he had to do it all on his own.
“He’s never been off the bridle in his life before, so it was a big ask, and he just got a little bit lonely and just started to drift to the left a little. I was impressed with him.
“I’ve ridden two Frankels now and they’ve both wanted to get on with things at home, but come raceday they are as good as gold.”
Seven Heavens isn’t the only first crop Frankel that makes you blink: Cunco and Majoris, to a lesser extent, both have the “Frankel look” about them. Another son, Frankuus, is a grey and his two daughters to race, Queen Kindly and Fair Eva, are both chestnuts. But the whole of this select group seem to have Frankel’s precocity, indicating that at least some of this first crop may have been similarly stamped by their famous sire. Too, as was the case with Team Frankel, will it take patience, together with skill, to harness the inclination of these first few (as well as those to come) to “get on with things” without dampening their love of the race?
Cunco (named after a city in Chile and owned by Don Alberto Corp. Ltd.), Frankel’s firstborn son was also the very first Frankel to hit the turf, winning nicely at Newbury on May 13, ridden by Richard Havlin. Needless to say, there was keen interest among Frankel followers and much praise for his debut effort. Cunco also treated spectators to some of his sire’s spunk, rearing up in the saddling enclosure on his second start at Ascot. Since his May win, Cunco has started twice, coming in third (at Ascot) and fourth, respectively.
As of this writing, Queen Kindly is the first Frankel to chalk up 2 wins (in 3 starts), bringing the stallion’s overall strike rate to 8 winners from 14 starters. The filly is also Frankel’s first-born daughter and her dam, Lady of the Desert, by the great Rahy, gives the filly’s story a distinctly American connection.
Please click on the link below for a video of Queen Kindly’s second win:
Nor is Frankel’s talented daughter the only offspring in his first crop with American connections. Waiting in the wings are: Brooklyn Bobby (colt by Balance), In Luxury (filly by In Lingerie/Japan), Aspirer (filly by Nebraska Tornado by Storm Cat/Juddmonte), an unnamed filly by Oatsee, the dam of Shackleford, Elphin (filly by Aspiring Diva by Distant View, dam of Emulous/Juddmonte), Finche (colt by Binche by Woodman, dam of Proviso/Juddmonte), Solo Saxophone (colt by Society Hostess by Seeking The Gold), Mirage Dancer (colt by Heat Haze by Green Desert/Juddmonte), Mi Suerte (colt by Mi Sueno by Pulpit/Japan) and Aljezeera (colt by Dynaforce by Dynaformer).
However, as has been pointed out by the Racing Post’s Tony Morris, with about 100 or more runners to come, Frankel’s record won’t stay anywhere near his initial wins-starters ratio. It will, in fact, substantially decline — unless every Frankel proves a winner and that is, even for this great, great horse, an impossibility. As for the precocity of these first few, one can’t really talk about Frankel’s tendency to breed precocity into his offspring when so few of them have raced to date. Nor does he occupy the top spot for freshman sires, currently occupied by Mayson (a son of Invincible Spirit with 8 winners of 24 runners), since none of Frankel’s eight progeny to run have scored in stakes company. Frankel currently ranks ninth, but look for that to change.
Here’s the thing: these early Frankels don’t even represent the best of what he’s got coming, in terms of sons and daughters of champion and/or Blue Hen mares. Together with those listed above in “American connections,” we can add: Nothing But Dreams, the daughter of Arc winner champion, Danedream, who is training in France with Roger Varian; Erdogan, the son of triple G1 winner Dar Re Mi (dam of the impressive So Dar Mi) who is training with the brilliant John Gosden; Mori, the son of the great Midday, training with Sir Michael Stoute; La Figlia, the priciest Frankel to pass through auction, by the dual Guineas champion Finsceal Beo is with William Haggas; and in Japan, there is the daughter of the brilliant Stacelita, Soul Stirring. Consider too: Aurora Gold, the daughter of Juddmonte’s Midsummer, the dam of Midday, who is with John Gosden; Australian champion More Joyous’ unnamed daughter, in training with Gai Waterhouse; the aforementioned Clepsydra’s filly, Amser, who is training with Andre Fabre; champion Alexander Goldrun’s daughter, Gold Rush, training with Jim Bolger; and Dancing Rain’s filly, Rainswept, a Darley purchase, is in the stable of Andre Fabre.
So, yes, it’s early days.
But this is surely what it’s all about: the courage to dream, the courage to hope ……. that one great thoroughbred will slip the bonds of time to go on and on and on.
Sources
The Racing Post, “Frankel’s Flying Start” by Tony Morris
Juddmonte website: http://www.juddmonte.com/stallions/frankel/default.aspx
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Wonderful piece, Abigail. It will be terrific fun to see where all this leads, as more of his progeny hit the track As you wisely point out, his early success is not likely to continue at such a rapid pace with more and more progeny running the percentages won’t be so high. I was interested in their reasons for keeping his offspring at under 130 per year.
Just curious, if you had to guess how would you predict where his future is headed, as a sire, and if he is likely to wind up being a “sire of sires”. I guess that is the ultimate goal of any serious breeder is to keep building on prior generations that are successful. Have to wonder, “How do you improve on perfection?” My questions, I fear, are rather naïve and elementary.
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Ann Maree: I got tied up with a piece of art & dental appointments so I’ve been slow responding to everyone. Given what these first Frankels have demonstrated and keeping in mind that, with the exception of Seven Heavens, these aren’t even the best (re: bloodlines) of his 2014 crop, I would hunch his chances of becoming a “sire of sires” and following in his Daddy’s footsteps are pretty good. But like you, I do want a look at more than these few babies! Abigail
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Goodness, Abigail! This is such a great blog post! I love how you have brought us all this information and photos together in one spot so we can see some of these youngsters to be watching for now and in the future. Your diligent research pays off and my hat is always off to you for presenting it all in such a way to be entertaining also. Thank you!!
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Celeste: So pleased you enjoyed it. My motivation was exactly that — to help Frankel fans follow some of his 2014 crop. With 180 babies and only 8 on the track so far, I needed to look into who was who as well! Take care, Abigail
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I really enjoyed this trip down memory lane with Frankel. What a remarkable feat for his first offspring to hit the track, 8 first time runners, all winners except one coming in 2nd. It looks like he will be a prepotent sire, stamping his good qualities in his offspring. Frankel may be the rare Great horse that produces one as good as himself or close to it. My dream mating would be to Zenyatta but It will never happen because the Queen just doesn’t travel well.
I also loved seeing Frankel’s first win, a little rank but his speed and jockey pulled it off. Frankel coming mid pack and jockey Tom Queally finding a place for Frankel to make his run. We know in the USA how difficult that mid pack position can be but he pulled it off every time. Great jockey and Great horse.
His Queen’s Plate win reminded me so much of American Pharoah’s Belmont victory, “Let him roll.” I think of Frankel as the European American Pharoah, so dominant over all others and a very rare horse, a true Great. All the stars in heaven aligned, the perfect trainer and jockey, and breeding produced one of the Greatest horses of all time, certainly in modern times. I hope American Pharoah can do the same in the breeding shed. I also noted Oatsee produced a filly and she was the dam of Shackelford, one of my favorites. Who can forget the beautiful white blaze winning, staying white because he was in front of the others. What excitement!
One comment made about Frankel’s “unique front pumping action”. I watched his races here to see what that looked like and it looked like California Chrome’s stride, such a powerful horse. We only have good things coming in racing’s future!
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Lois: Thank you so much for this super commentary. Yes, that “pumping action” of Frankel’s was so distinctive of his running style and you know I hadn’t thought of Chrome as doing something similar. We sure have goodness + greatness coming in the future. How exciting! Abigail
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Loved the Race with Seventh Heaven! Tremendous news affirming and confirming the incredible genes being passed on by Frankel – someone upstairs must be ecstatic.
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I’m hoping you’re right. Wouldn’t it be something to witness in our lifetime an “Eclipse Event”like this?
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Abigail, loved this article. I left a comment previously, but don’t see it.
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Ann Maree: Apologies! I wrote you a proper response to your first post. Thanks for your patience! Abigail
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