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In breeding terms, pedigree (along with temperament) have always been my concerns with Frankel. Like so many others he is bred on the Galileo/Danehill cross, plus there is Mr Prospector in there as well (via Urban Sea) and also Rainbow Quest. Given the preponderance of Galileo/Danehill and Mr P in the TB breeding population then we can expect an awful lot of close in-breeding with Frankel’s progeny, and this is already there in some of the stock who have been seen out. Cunco, for e.g. is out of a Danehill Dancer mare, whose mother is by Sadler’s Wells; Majoris is by a Kingmambo mare out of Alexandrova by Sadler’s Wells; Fair Eva’s dam is from the Mr Prospector sire line, and also doubles up on Rainbow Quest. Others we have yet to see have similar double-ups e.g. Mori (from the Danzig line) and Eminent (who doubles on Mr P and SW). Down the line these closely in-bred individuals will need complete outcrosses.
The Frankels that interest me most are those that do something different on the bottom line such as Toulifaut and Aljezeera. Pivotal mares seem to work well, as do Rahy’s from what we’ve seen (QK and Seven Heavens are on these lines). Interestingly, a few of the ones highlighted in this week’s RP article are also of this ilk – Tsavo’s is out of an Excellent Art mare (so again from Pivotal); then there is Swiss Storm (out of an Indian Ridge mare) and Rainbow Legacy (by Spectrum). I’d add Erdogan to that list (ex Da Re Mi, by Singspiel ex Darara by High Top).Well Nath – remember One Man? Then again, in the days when there was no RyanAir, DO himself did the KG and CC route on a couple of occasions (finishing placed in the CC), it being recognised that the two races were not so far apart in terms of their stamina requirements (leave aside the obvious differences in the track!). Others, like Edredon Bleu, won the CC and then went on to win the KG as older horses. And plenty others have tried it – Azerty; Master Minded for e.g.
Looking at this, I can see WPM thinking this might be the route. KG – lots of prize money on offer there (trainer’s title); who else will he bump into (what does PN have?); and what other realistic options has he got in the yard of winning it (surely not Vautour on a RH track at Christmas time!). The alternative for Douvan in England is to take on Sprinter at Sandown in early December … :) I think he might wait to do that at Cheltenham – or, at least, if Douvan was mine to plan for, & I had the goal of a trainer’s title to also think about, I wouldn’t want to be bashing his head against the mighty Sprinter that early in his second season. Then, when you think about his other options for the big festival races, surely Douvan must be pencilled in for the CC, for UDS will be RyanAir bound, with Vautour (and Djak) – lined up for the GC (esp. if Coneygree is back).
Looks worth a punt to me.
That I do believe is Simon Sherwood (he of the 100% record on him). Jockey number 3, who succeeded him, was Richard Dunwoody. Before Simon Sherwood was Colin Brown. The joker in the pack that is the question is all those who rode him after he retired … not sure that I could get those in chronological order!!! CB was often on board him at Kempton on Boxing Day. I vaguely remember that some top flat jockeys ‘had a go’ on him and found him a bit of a handful … :)
Plenty of sense from that man Candy here: http://www.ownerbreeder.co.uk/2016/07/candid-candy-still-ambitious/
(along with a wonderful story about flying with Sea Bird!)
So pleased to see Limato do that yesterday – hopefully he can be as durable as Cirrus & Solow & we will be seeing him blitz top class sprinting fields for years.
I agree Jonibake – for me, one of the interesting sub-storylines on Frankel as a sire is the exam that he is clearly going to set trainers, and continue to set them every year! As you say, (given the current huge books), there are going to be a lot of these about in future years. A lot of Frankel’s future reputation is going to rest in their hands, and – given the combination of talent and difficulty some of them pose – literally in the hands of their top work riders. HRAC was always very clear how much Shane Featherstonehaugh made Frankel . But how many trainers with Frankels have a Shane? I wouldn’t know, but – from reading about this in the book – I would hazard a guess that not many have those talents. This might be an issue going forwards.
That JG said what he said publicly about “these Frankels” speaks volumes I think; trainers must be feeling the pressure here. Initially there was the industry pressure – knowing that they have in their care the offspring of the highest rated flat horse there has ever been, whose first book had been managed to give him the best start possible at stud. But now there is the performance comparison that is the day-to-day bread and butter of training. Part of that pressure is the winners: runners stat, which has been fuelled by the media – who would want to be known for failing to win with a Frankel? This is what I suspect is going on with that off-the-scale rating for Frankel’s runners, compared to stallions minus all the hype, whose stock run as and when they are ready to run, and whose ratings are less artificial as a result.
As interesting is the ‘progression challenge’ that the Frankels that have already run and won are now posing. On being raised in grade the ones who’ve run haven’t won. OK, maybe they’re not the best of the crop (Fair Eva & Seven Heavens look that, of those we’ve seen), but nothing won at Royal Ascot and Cunco was disappointing yesterday. With that in mind, it’s interesting looking back to Frankel’s 2yo season again – August start; nothing < 7f; evening meeting to begin with … In other words, HRAC didn’t just go ‘slowly, slowly’, he purposefully ran him against future staying types, over the longer 2yo distances, presumably to counter the intractability/fizz problem? Perhaps running them over 6f early on as 2yos isn’t in their best interests longer term?
A really interesting early analysis of how Frankel is doing, from Simon Rowlands: https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/frankel-first-season-sire-hows-he-doing-so-far/
This gets beyond the headline hype of the runners: winners stat (which is highly impressive) to highlight (on the positive side) the off-the-scale median rating of these runners and (on the negative) the number of runners from his first crop, which is low.
There is an interesting snippet from Big JG (who must be getting to know these Frankels by now!) on C4’s twitter feed: Frankel, predictably, is passing on the trait that HRC and his staff managed to tame, i.e. the wilfulness. So, these are challenging horses to train, and to bring to the racecourse, which might explain the low number of runners. JG’s use of the old American tactic in pony-eying Cunco to the start @ Newmarket, plus the hood on Seven Heavens in the pre-parade @ Newmarket, and use of the same grackle noseband with the sheepskin pad that Frankel wore, show how he is endeavouring to manage them.
Although it is still ‘early days’, it will be interesting to see how that median rating progresses through the season. At the back of my mind is the thought that perhaps the less good ones (there must be some!) or totally intractable, may never make it to the track, such is the weight of expectation, and that what we are seeing here is a median figure that is not strictly comparable to that of other sires?
You have it Crepello :)
The horses are Glint of Gold, Diamond Shoal and Crystal Spirit.
The three connections are: same owner/breeder (Paul Mellon); same trainer (Ian Balding); and same mum (Crown Treasure). The connection to today is, of course, that the same connections won the Eclipse with Mill Reef.You are close St Nic!
You have the brothers, and you have the link to today (Eclipse day; an Eclipse winner) – but you need the hurdler, and the connections are not the two brothers!
Oh dear, my turn again …
Try this: name the connections (three) between two brothers that won a host of Group 1s in continental Europe in the early 1980s and a Grade 1 winner over hurdles in the 1990s. & what is the link to today?
For anyone with NH withdrawal symptoms and who may have missed this: http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/nicky-henderson-david-minton-sprinter-sacre-loving-life-at-summer-retreat-in-shropshire/2109904/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNews
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHPGHArBE-a/?tagged=sprintersacre
So good to see him on his hols!
This is a head scratcher …
My best guess is British Grade 1 hurdle races on a LH track that have not. so far, been won by WP Mullins!!
Yes Cruella – link here: http://dublinhorseshow.com/results/2015/class_30.htm
There are some good photos of them in some flickr galleries.
Over to you!
Ooooh, asking these is harder than answering them!
Try this: where and when did Forpadydeplasterer beat Imperial Commander?
Having just watched the replay, Harzand is certainly a ‘street fighter’; look at how he leans in towards Idaho in the last half furlong to intimidate him. But he’s not slow either. He’s the type that will just keep finding, and in that respect he reminds me of Shirley Heights (another to do the Epsom-Curragh double in ‘tough’ style) – not surprisingly, when one looks at his dam’s breeding!
I’m not sure he’s an Arc winner either. He looks all over a Leger horse to me, especially given how he ran on through the line. But clearly AKS want to go the Sinndar route.
It will be interesting to see how both colts come out of that battle. It wasn’t quite Grundy v Bustino, but with the pacemakers blazing out front it had echoes of that epic.
