I wrote my first post on Frankel towards the start of his career and I’m posting this on his last – well as a racehorse – what happens next is hopefully just as fun!
Here’s another great video that pins together a montage of the best of his first 13 wins (it misses his maiden which like his final race was run in heavy conditions.
I’m only sad we never saw him run over a mile and a half. Perhaps a more ambitious campaign this year would have seen him take on the Eclipse as a prep race for the Arc (though if you thought Ascot heavy – you should have been in Paris on the Saturday!).
Here is the video of his final race. Frankel dwells in the stalls and gives his rivals five lengths, he struggles up the hill clearly not as comfortable as others in the soft to heavy ground but when called upon, he delivers and it is all that Tom Quealy can do to pull him up before he starts a second circuit.
Here’s Prince Khalid Abudullah “He will retire today. He has run his last race,”
Here’s Henry Cecil, “He’s the best I’ve ever had, the best I’ve ever seen.”
Here’s Tom Queally “He’s getting more and more relaxed as time goes on. His class really showed today,” …. “I walked the track and was worried about the conditions, but I walked the final straight and knew it wasn’t too heavy.”
My delight in watching this race was made the greater by watching it with my good friend Eamon O’Connor at Cheltenham. Eamon, the most phlegmatic of characters saw his first horse perish in a Cheltenham bumper earlier in the year. Undaunted he came back today to see his two horse both place at the Showcase meeting.
Eamon embodies the spirit of National Hunt Racing and it’s great that he and his family could witness his personal triumph on a day when Frankel bowed out with such authority.
Frankel factfile:
Sire: Galileo
Dam: Kind
Age: Four
Foaled: Feb 11, 2008
Owner: Prince Khalid Abdullah
Trainer: Sir Henry Cecil
Career earnings: £2,998,302.
Race record: 14 wins from 14 starts, including 10 victories at Group One level.
Group One victories: Champion Stakes (2012); Juddmonte International (2012); Sussex Stakes (2012); Queen Anne Stakes (2012); Lockinge Stakes (2012); Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (2011); Sussex Stakes (2011); St James’s Palace Stakes (2011): 2000 Guineas (2011); Dewhurst Stakes (2010)
Other notable wins: Greenham Stakes (2011), Royal Lodge Stakes (2010).
Related articles
- Live Sport Reports: King Frankel retires unbeaten (walesonline.co.uk)
- Frankel retired after making it 14 wins from 14 (standard.co.uk)
- Frankel: the greatest racehorse of all? (guardian.co.uk)
- Fantastic Frankel: Best racehorse in the world bows out with Champion Stakes victory (mirror.co.uk)
- Frankel Wins Champions Stakes to Extend Perfect Racing Record – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
- Frankel cleared to run final race (guardian.co.uk)
- You: Farewell to Frankel as wonder horse bows out (edition.cnn.com)
- Frankel “best ever” after making it a perfect 14 victories (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- The £100million unbeaten champion: Frankel hailed as world’s greatest thoroughbred after winning all 14 races (dailymail.co.uk)
- Is Frankel the Greatest Racehorse of All Time? (keepingscore.blogs.time.com)
