The Best Frankel 2yo In Training 2022.
Frankel, super sire, has been hitting the headlines and proving he is a world-class horse on and off the racecourse.
Who could forget the 2022 Qatar Prix de I'arc de Triomphe (Group 1) at Longchamp, France with Frankel-sired Alpinista, trained by Sir Mark Prescott, ridden by Luke Morris, in the ownership of Miss K. Rausing to win prize money £2,400,840.34 (£2M+). What a supreme achievement for UK racing.
I can remember Alpinista winning on debut as a two-year-old at Epsom when 9/4. She won unchallenged that day. Who would have thought at the age of five she would have raced 15 times, with 10 wins, 2 second placed efforts. Not to mention total prize earnings over £3M.
See the Full Result Here.
Talking of two-year-old racing we can't escape the influence of Frankel.
Andrew Balding's Chaldean has been in flying form all season after needing his debut at Newbury (5th) has tasted victory in his next four starts concluding a battling effort when victorious in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (Group 1) at Newmarket. Frankie Dettori gave this son of Frankel a fine ride to beat Royal Scotsman by a head. A brilliant sight racing in the ownership of Juddmonte (Frankel silks).
See the Full Result Here.
This chestnut colt has other noted achievements this formative season including victories at pattern class taking the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes (Group 3) at York & Coral Champagne Stakes (Group 2) at Doncaster.
Andrew Balding, trainer, said:
We thought CHALDEAN was very good in early spring and into the summer but he got beaten first time out. Since then he has gone on and on. He had been out in front a long time and Frankie felt he kicked a little earlier than ideal but it was probably a race-winning move. He is versatile and he didn't have to make it but it didn't look like there was any obvious pace here. What we didn't want was it to turn into a sprint and for us to be out of our ground. He will be fine (in a Guineas) and the bigger the field the better off he will be. He is all speed on his dam side out of a Dutch Art mare and I'd be surprised if he got further than a mile. I don't know yet if we run him in a trial first, we'll see how he is training in the spring and make a decision there. I would be comfortable going straight to the Guineas but I can't be making that decision at the moment.
Chaldean is presently 6/1 for the English 2000 Guineas, 2023, to be held at Newmarket, Saturday 6th 3 pm.
My one regret is not seeing Frankel race in his amazing career.
However, to capture Frankel's true story in beautiful prose it's a delight to mention Simon Cooper's book release.
This year is of particular importance to Frankel fans because it is the 10th anniversary of Frankel's final race - 14th which saw him retire to stud unbeaten and regarded by many as the greatest racehorse ever. And the link? Fishing Breaks' director and owner Simon Cooper wrote a knowledgeable and fascinating book about Frankel - Frankel, The Greatest Racehorse of All Time and the Sport That Made Him.
You can celebrate the 10th anniversary of famous racehorse Frankel by reading Simon Cooper's Frankel: The Greatest Racehorse of All Time and the Sport That Made Him
The QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on 15 October marks the 10th anniversary of the fourteenth and final race of legendary racehorse Frankel, which saw him retire to stud unbeaten, regarded by many as the greatest racehorse to ever live. Author and founding director of Fishing Breaks in the Test Valley, Hampshire, who grew up around the racing world and spent the early part of his working career around horse-racing, wrote the highly acclaimed Frankel: The Greatest Racehorse of All Time and the Sport That Made Him which earned him a place in the shortlist for the Daily Telegraph Sport Book Awards in 2021. This is a great book to read in celebration of the 10th anniversary and to learn more about this remarkable racehorse.
Over a three year career Frankel took all before him, not just the best of a very good generation but winning races by margins that left hardened race watchers speechless. He did not beat the opposition, he crushed them. But it was not always easy. Frankel was headstrong and difficult to train, his trainer Henry Cecil, after some years in the wilderness, returning to old glories with this amazing horse despite his personal battle with cancer which was to eventually overwhelm him soon after Frankel's last race.
During the course of his work Simon Cooper was given exclusive access behind-the-scenes to the racing empire of Prince Abdulla, the owner and breeder of Frankel, with racing interests that cover the globe. To research the book Cooper followed in the footsteps of Frankel for over a year - from the stud in Ireland where he was conceived, then to Newmarket where he was born, then back to Ireland where he was raised before returning to Newmarket and the stables of Henry Cecil where he was trained. He then visited all the racecourses at which Frankel ran and talked with the many people closely associated with Frankel's career.
Cooper has regularly met with Frankel at Banstead Manor in Suffolk where he now stands as stud and where he has sired many hundreds of offspring, many of whom have been immensely successful on the racecourse, making Frankel one of the most sought after stallions in the world, with a covering fee of £200,000.
Frankel: The Greatest Racehorse of All Time and the Sport That Made Him was published by William Collins and is available in hardback and paperback from all good bookshops and online. It makes for a fascinating read for everyone, not just horse or racing enthusiasts. It's also an ideal gift or an interesting Book Club read!
Praise for Frankel: The Greatest Racehorse of All Time and the Sport That Made Him ‘An imaginative retelling of the legendary story … Cooper paints a complete picture of Frankel, charting his meteoric rise from the first years of his life through to his glorious send-off when winning the Champion Stakes at Ascot … transporting the reader with his vivid descriptions … While he is undoubtedly the star of the show, this book is about so much more than just Frankel … Thanks to Cooper, and his dedication to colouring the blanks in this famous story, we can now know Frankel a little better too' Racing Post
‘
Well-researched and written with an enthusiast's brio. Moreover, it is utterly engrossing … Frankel's story is an extraordinary one and Cooper tells it in an easy, compelling style … [He] takes the reader on an equine pilgrimage, all the more thrilling as the object of veneration is still just 12 years old and standing at stud near Newmarket' The Field
‘Simon Cooper does a sterling job … a wry, amiable guide, Cooper takes intriguing tangents aplenty … his real skill, though, lies in detailing Frankel's day-to-day life' inewspaper
