Frankel returns- Ascot Race Course SAT Oct 15

[Glimmerglass]

HRTV and TVG mostly likely will air his return in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. HRH The Queen will be there to present the trophy to the winner.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes will be Frankel’s first start since a commanding win in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in July. Earlier this year, he won the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

More than likely, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes will be Frankel’s final start of 2012.

He was a big fat 1-3 in the future book for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes as of Monday and is clearly the star attraction Saturday.

“It is important for racing to have real champions – Sea the Stars, Arkle, Mill Reef, and Desert Orchid,” his trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, said at a press conference Monday, mentioning four famous steeplechase and flat horses from the last 50 years. “You don’t have to be an enthusiast to have heard of them.

Any how much is Frankel worth for owners Juddmonte Farms? The Daily Mail (UK) suggested £100m GBP

That’s approx $157,673,000 in USD as of the current conversion

That’s the value placed on the unbeaten miler by one of Britain’s top bloodstock agencies ahead of the biggest race of his career.

Yet McKeever Bloodstock still rate the £100m valuation, which takes
into account a possible £100,000-a-go stud fee when he retires, as ‘conservative’.

All of that money ‘at risk’ brings up the age old question of “do you continue to risk running him?” Scotsman 10-10-2011 “Rock and a hard place”

Do they keep the best racehorse in the world in training to prove his superiority over several generations, or risk losing him to an accident as a four-year-old when he is worth many millions at stud?

Had Frankel been campaigned differently, he might already have beaten Rock of Gibraltar’s record. But Cecil insisted that Frankel needed time between races and so, as a three-year-old, he has brought him out for just the totesport.com Greenham Stakes, the Qipco 2,000 Guineas, the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Qipco Sussex Stakes, when he cantered over a class field including older champion Canford Cliffs.

All who saw Frankel as a two-year-old knew he was something special. His incredibly impressive win in the Juddmonte Royal Lodge over next Saturday’s course and distance and his subsequent cosy win in the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket a year ago made him the horse to follow.

He did not let his fans down as a three-year-old and, at four, he would surely be unstoppable.

Racing needs a superstar like him at the moment – imagine him in the Lockinge, Queen Anne, Sussex, Queen Elizabeth II and Breeders Cup Mile next year. How good would that be?

Yet racing is replete with hard-luck tales of horses who stayed too long in training. You could not blame Khalid Abdullah if he was to insist on retiring Frankel to stud, but the colt seems different, as he appears tough as well as fast.

Here is hoping that he doesn’t retire in 2012! The final field will be announced tomorrow for the QEII but it’s unlikely to exceed 9 horses.

[tradewind]

Hey Glimmer, why do you hope he is retired? He is an exciting horse to watch run…Your thoughts are always full of insight that I do not have.

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=tradewind;5892435]
Hey Glimmer, why do you hope he is retired? He is an exciting horse to watch run…Your thoughts are always full of insight that I do not have.[/QUOTE]

Nope I do hope he doesn’t retire - a bit of a snafu with my posting there before. I’d like to see him go to the BC in 2012 and that’s the only way to see it.

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

Please let him return in 2012!

Seeing Frankel run in person is at the top of the bucket list, even if I have to fly over the pond next year to do it!

[Glimmerglass]

With the new whip rule in the UK it begs the question of what impact it might have with the Champions Day (tomorrow - SAT Oct 15th) …

Guardian 10-13-11 “Richard Hughes says riders will break new whip rules on Champions Day”

“Frankel [the unbeaten favourite for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes] could go from [being worth] £100m to £50m for the sake of two smacks. What would you do?”

Regarding 2012 Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to the horse’s owner, Khalid Abdullah, said:

“Bobby [Frankel] was an exceptionally influential trainer … our main trainer for 20 years, based in California but he operated from all posts, including the East Coast and … Canada,” Grimthorpe said. “So it’s a tribute to him.”

Frankel the horse has yet to race outside Britain, but Grimthorpe has set up the intriguing possibility that the colt could run in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup in what would probably be the final race of his career before retiring to stud.

“It would be a wonderful thing to take a horse like Frankel to race in America. I’m sure the American racing public would just love it,” Grimthorpe said. “The interest in the States has been phenomenal, which is wonderful. In a perfect world, he would race there.”

[Glimmerglass]

TV Alert - TVG to air Champions Day from Ascot

TVG will be airing the Champions Day live

In particular the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with Frankel will be aired at 10:35 AM Eastern

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

Another fabulous win for Frankel!

U.K. folks, what’s the buzz over there regarding the next steps for him?

[Equilibrium]

Sir Henry was talking about him running next year so he is not retired.

FYI, that’s what is called a freak!

Am now enjoying a piece in Frankie Dettori. He’s hacking out on the roads with the kids! He has an awesome yard. Also owns the horse who won him the last of his 7 wins in one day.

Terri

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Wonderful effort.
He is getting smarter too in his style. Looked like he could have gone longer, which bodes well for him being stretched out to 10f next year.

Next up the Champion Stakes, with a really nice field. So You Think short price favourite.

[MintHillFarm]

Frankel is staying in Europe and not making the trip over to run in the BC.
Kudos to the Juddmonte team for deciding his great races this year were enough till 2012.

It will be very exciting to see him run again next year. He may come over then for the BC Classic…

[Glimmerglass]

As cited in multiple places as a curious fact: both winners of today’s Queen Elizabeth II races - Ascot and Keeneland - were won by horses sired by Galileo

Frankel: by Galileo and out of Group 3-placed multiple stakes winner Kind

Now a perfect nine-for-nine, Prince Khalid Abdulla’s homebred champion has reportedly been awarded a lofty Timeform rating of 143, the highest for nearly 40 years.

“He’s the best horse I have ever owned,” said Prince Khalid, whose Juddmonte silks have been sported by a true great in Dancing Brave. “Many people think he is the best horse they have ever seen.”

Video replay: 2011 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

In the Q E II at Keeneland:

Together: by Galileo and out of the mare Shadow Song.

She may go to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“We’ll have to see how she comes out of this race, then we’ll make a decision probably in the next day or two,” Murphy said.

Bred by Lynch Bages and Samac in Ireland, Together brought $467,489 as a yearling at Tattersalls October. She is out of the winning Pennekamp mare Shadow Song, making her a half-sister to Group 1 winner Jan Vermeer, who was fourth as the 9-4 favorite in last year’s Group 1 Epsom Derby.

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

Nice Haskins’ blog entry in Blood Horse on Frankel and his namesake:

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2011/10/15/floored-by-frankel.aspx

[I]"As for Frankel the horse, he is the culmination of a miracle that began in 1990 when a brash, outspoken Jew from the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y. formed a long-lasting bond with a Saudi Arabian prince.

It was an unlikely partnership that somehow became one of the most successful alliances in racing history. Everything they built together and everything they strove for has been realized in one very special colt. Perhaps it is appropriate that Frankel the horse remains an enigma. Some things just aren’t worth trying to figure out."[/I]

[Glimmerglass]

In case anyone was wondering if his full brother - Noble Mission - could be … well the “next” Frankel:

Racing Post 1-25-11 “Frankel’s brother Noble Mission second on debut”

Video: Sent off at 6-1 for his debut at Yarmouth

[Glimmerglass]

Making his 2012 debut this Saturday (May 19th)

Frankel aims to go 10-for-10 Saturday

Frankel will face no more than eight rivals when the world’s top rated racehorse begins his four-year-old campaign in Group 1 Newbury’s JLT Lockinge Stakes on Saturday.

Frankel, whose participation in the race had been in doubt after a setback last month, confirmed himself on target for the 1m prize at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile racecourse on Saturday, where he delighted Cecil in the second of two workouts on the track.

While ‘So You think’ is listed as an entry he’ll likely be scratched.

“We gave him a bit of a break after Dubai and we’ll wait a bit longer with him,” said O’Brien. “He’ll probably run in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh (May 27).”

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5918271]
In case anyone was wondering if his full brother - Noble Mission - could be … well the “next” Frankel[/QUOTE]

He was defeated today by George Strawbridge (Augustin Stables) runner Worthy who took the Fairway Stakes at Newmarket. Next stop will be either the Epsom Investec Derby or Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster. Strawbridge’s Lucarno won that latter race back in 2007.

[Equilibrium]

Seriously, is this the thread we have for Frankel?

Today was an education in bringing horses back after a break because they should all have breaks, and back from an injury which sidelined him for 10 days.

He was magnificent! Awesome! Powerhoused home like it was nothing. He is bigger and stronger too. Congratulations team Frankel, especially Sir Henry.

Terri

[dressagetraks]

So Frankel won today and Frankel’s brother (in Glimmer’s post) lost in another race, right?

Is Frankel likely heading to the BC this fall?

Got my BC tickets notification for going on sale next week. A bit surprised at the prices. I’d love a chance to see Frankel, though.

[Equilibrium]

Think the plan is to stretch him to 1.2miles. No mention of the BC but who knows. Highly unlikely he would run on dirt so only the BC Mile would really suit. This is not a 1 1/2 mile NH stallion in the making. So the BC doesn’t really suit. We shall see.

Terri

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Replay
http://horses.sportinglife.com/Video/Racing/0,27770,491167,00.html

Doubt you will see him at the BC. His end of year target is the Champion Stakes at Ascot which is a week or two before the BC. Plus running in the BC Mile is not worth the risk for a horse of his calibre and his pedigree suggests that a run on the dirt in the BC Classic wouldn’t be a good idea.

[Glimmerglass]

Wall Street Journal May 21, 2012: Sizing Up Europe’s Superhorse Frankel

On Monday, the British Horseracing Authority made a statement. In case you missed it, it said the British horse Frankel, which won Saturday’s Lockinge Stakes in Newbury, England, had achieved a numerical performance rating of 138.

Here’s all you need to know about that number: It makes Frankel the greatest living racehorse in the world—and the best in at least 25 years.

In fact, if you consider all of the quirks of that rating, which is a subjective figure devised by handicappers, you could argue that 138 makes Frankel one of the best racehorses ever.

There’s no denying Frankel’s talent. The 4-year-old colt has won 10 races with no defeats. The two words Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia uses to describe him are “unbelievable” and “spectacular.”

If a meeting between the horses took place, who would win? Battaglia, the oddsmaker, said I’ll Have Another is not as proven as Frankel. But if I’ll Have Another wins the Triple Crown, he added, “then you could talk about it. It would be something I’d like to see.”

Though the British Horseracing Authority ranking system is not as disreputable as, say, the metric system, people familiar with the horse game say Frankel would have a lot to prove if measured against American horses.

“There is almost no correlation between being a great turf miler and a great dirt miler,” said Barry Weisbord, president of Thoroughbred Daily News.

Battaglia, the handicapper, said he doesn’t need any more convincing when it comes to Frankel. “If you haven’t lost a race, it doesn’t really matter what the margins are.”