Without Equal - two words that encapsulate Frankel.
The charismatic Juddmonte Farms homebred was out on his own on the track. Now, as the fastest stallion to reach 40 Northern Hemisphere Group winners in the history of the Pattern, that striking marketing slogan remains true at stud as well.
Frankel’s record-setting 40th Group winner arrived in early September courtesy of Kalahara’s win in the G3 Prix d’Arenberg at ParisLongchamp. Frankel’s stud career is peppered by some excellent middle-distance performers such as Cracksman and Anapurna in addition to the odd stayer, but in the quick Kalahara, whose breakthrough score came over 5f, there was also a further glimpse into his versatility.
It all began four years ago with the wide-margin victory of the Juddmonte-homebred Fair Eva in the appropriately Juddmonte-sponsored Princess Margaret Stakes on King George day at Ascot.
That summer, the eyes of the entire bloodstock world were on Frankel in recognition of his status as one of the great horses of the post-War era.
He had been the final masterpiece for trainer Sir Henry Cecil, one whose career had taken in 14 unbeaten starts. There was a flair to him that also made the colt brilliant, and it was in harnessing that exuberance while nurturing a natural talent that brought Cecil’s skill and intuition, previously on show through earlier greats such as Wollow, Oh So Sharp and Bosra Sham, into sharper focus.
People have their different favourite ‘Frankel moments’ - the ruthless manner in which he dismantled the 2000 Guineas field would rank highly alongside his 11-length win in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and ridiculously easy victory in the Juddmonte International - but in his flamboyant talent, reliability and popular connections, his importance to the racing world lay in the fact that his career was one that drew the racing public together.
With such a record, however, comes the weight of expectations. With breeders also taking confidence from a pedigree that represented Galileo over Danehill and a blend of Juddmonte and Jock Hay Whitney families, Frankel has covered some of the world’s best mares since his retirement to Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, among them a healthy proportion belonging to Juddmonte’s own powerful broodmare band. Of course, while a massive help to a stallion’s burgeoning stud career, that level of support also brings further pressure. As such, no stallion of the recent era has come under more scrutiny.
By the time Fair Eva lined up for the Princess Margaret Stakes on July 23, 2016, the early omens were looking good.
Several weeks earlier, his first runner, Cunco, had looked smart for John Gosden when making a winning debut at Newbury’s Lockinge meeting. Others, such as Queen Kindly, Frankuus and Fair Eva herself, went on to follow suit with debut scores of their own. In a portent of things to come, each of that quartet would become stakes winners within the year, with Queen Kindly going on to take the G2 Lowther Stakes for Richard Fahey and Cunco, Fair Eva and Frankuus each striking at G3 level. Other 2-year-old first-crop stakes winners Toulifaut, who landed the G3 Prix d’Aumale, and the Japanese fillies Soul Stirring, a champion 2-year-old filly of 2016, and G3 winner Mi Suerte also did their bit to mark Frankel down as a potentially elite sire.
Four years on and Frankel’s stud career does indeed consist of some pretty weighty figures.
For starters, he is throwing 12 percent Group winners to runners. And when it comes to stakes winners overall, he returns a figure of 16 percent.
A tally of 59 stakes winners worldwide is led by 11 scorers at the top level. No fewer than six emerged out of that first crop, including the dual Champions Stakes winner Cracksman and popular French stayer Call The Wind. In a show of the longevity displayed by some of his stock, two have even tasted G1 success this year in the miler Mozu Ascot, who has assisted Soul Stirring and Mi Suerte in doing plenty to enhance their site's popularity in Japan, and Mirage Dancer, who lifted the Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick in Australia only a few weeks ago.
Defining moment
In all, that first crop contains 23 stakes winners - that’s 25 percent of those to run out of that crop to date.
Subsequent crops have built on those foundations as Frankel has remained a world top ten sire in the TRC Global Rankings for the last three years.
For instance, G1 winners Without Parole and the hard-knocking Veracious lead the way among a collection of 15 second-crop stakes winners.
One of the defining moments of Frankel’s stud career to date, however, came courtesy of Anapurna’s victory in last year’s Oaks. The first European Classic winner for her sire, she was joined not long after on the roll of honour by Logician, successful in the St Leger, to form part of an outstanding year for Frankel that had begun at Meydan in March with the win of Dream Castle in the G1 Jebel Hatta. G1 Falmouth Stakes heroine Veracious and G1 Fillies’ Mile scorer Quadrilateral, one of seven stakes winners from his fourth crop, were also part of that quintet of 2019 G1 winners while others, such as the 3-year-olds East and Mehdaayih, were Classic or G1-placed.
That group alone encapsulates Frankel’s versatility given that it ranges from a pair of Classic winners to a G1-winning 2-year-old. It also highlights his ability to click with a wide variety of lines, with those G1 winners the products of mares belonging to the Sadler’s Wells line (Anapurna; therefore inbred to Sadler’s Wells), Mill Reef (Logician), Mr Prospector (Dream Castle), Caro (Quadrilateral) and of course Pivotal (Veracious), with whom he has forged quite an affinity (also think Cracksman and G2 winner Hungry Heart) like his sire, Galileo, before him.
As might be expected from a horse patronised by some of the world’s leading breeders, Frankel’s stud career also has an international look to it with high-class runners in both hemispheres; a small group of foals produced to Southern Hemisphere time include the G2-winning Australian fillies Miss Fabulass and Hungry Heart.
And that trend has continued into 2020 with Mozu Ascot and Mirage Dancer scoring at G1 level in Japan and Australia, and Elizabeth Way progressing through the ranks to strike in G2 company in Canada. They complement his current European-based runners such as Call The Wind, who added to his already lengthy record by taking the G2 Prix Kergolay and G3 Prix de Barbeville earlier in the year, Frankly Darling, who routed the competition in the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, the aforementioned G3 scorer Kalahara, and the listed winners Alpinista, Collide, Franconia, Majestic Noor, Queen Daenerys and Restiany.
Kalahara also leads the way among a current crop of 2yos that consists of 21 winners, among them the Group-placed Zabeel Queen, Seventh Kingdom, Fivethousandtoone and Dhababi, alongside the promising novice and maiden winners Beheld, Hurricane Lane, Ghaaliya, Mehnah, Petricor, Rumi and Vesela.
Meanwhile at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale, Frankel was represented by yearlings who sold for 2,000,000gns (paid by Godolphin for a half-sister to Golden Horn) and 1,100,000gns (paid by Godolphin for a brother to Elarqam out of champion Attraction) to contribute to an average of 409,444gns.
For all that Frankel has received every opportunity to perform well at stud, it is still a momentous feat to reach the landmark of 40 Northern Hemisphere Group winners with the speed that he did. It also comes at a time when his influence is on the cusp of taking on another dimension through his growing band of sons at stud. They include Darley’s Cracksman, whose first foals are due to come under the hammer at the upcoming winter sales, Newsells Park Stud’s new recruit Without Parole and Chilean-based Cunco, whose first crop are yearlings.