Grimthorpe Relishing Latest Juddmonte Cycle Cont
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MONDAY, 23 APRIL 2018 Nice! A year on, of course, that defeat at Newbury remains the GRIMTHORPE RELISHING only one endured by Enable, who graduated from Classic success against her own sex to prove no less dominant against LATEST JUDDMONTE CYCLE colts and older horses. Working back from a defence of the Arc, and possibly the Breeders' Cup thereafter, she will make a somewhat later start this time round. "I think the Coronation Cup would make sense to start her," Grimthorpe says. "We know she acts at Epsom. The blossoms on my trees at home are a month behind, and after the winter we've had it's been rather the same with some of the fillies. But with older horses, and all those races to think about in the second half of the season, there isn't the same pressure to get going [as when targeting Classics]." It has to be auspicious for her prospects of consolidating her status at four that Enable so thrived on her schedule last year. Cont. p2 IN TDN AMERICA TODAY DERBY ODDS LOOK ASKEW? BLAME THE ‘GRONK EFFECT’ Lord Teddy Grimthorpe, Sir Henry Cecil & Frankel (GB) after the latter If Gronkowski (Lonhro {Aus}) ships from England and starts in won the G1 Queen Anne S. | Racingfotos.com the GI Kentucky Derby, the colt will represent the single biggest media-driven underlay in the history of America's most historic by Chris McGrath and important horse race. T. D. Thornton has the latest Week in It is not just the horses with Classic aspirations who are Review. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. emerging from hibernation just now. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is back at work, too. "There are an awful lot of bubbles at this time of year and I always feel the Almighty has several hedgehogs out there ready to prick them all," says Lord Grimthorpe wryly. "You just hope one or two escape. But it is an exciting time, especially the way our season is, when you have from end of October to contemplate what might or might not be in May." To be fair, Prince Khaled Abdullah's racing manager hardly felt as though a bubble had burst when--a year ago last Friday--a filly from the first crop of Nathaniel (Ire) was beaten in a conditions race at Newbury. For one thing, the race was won by a filly running in the first colours of his employer, likewise trained by John Gosden. And Enable (GB) shaped perfectly respectably, just failing to get up for second behind >TDN Rising Star= Shutter Speed (GB) (Dansili {GB}). "Enable was always going to be best at a mile and a half," Grimthorpe says. "And actually William Buick got off that day and said she'd run a very decent race and that she would be nice." TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 23 APRIL 2018 Grimthorpe Relishing Latest Juddmonte Cycle Cont. from p1 ago, really, and the benefits are still being reaped today. For a "After every race there'd be mutterings about a very hard homebred operation, which is essentially what we are, it gives race, that she'd need a break now," Grimthorpe recalls. "But you an inner glow that's hard to replicate when you see third, she's always got home, eaten up fully and the next Monday fourth and even fifth generation Juddmonte families.@ morning whipped round and dropped Imran [Shahwani], her lad. "We all know it's cyclical. Everything has its ups and downs. The key to success with any But to have the likes of Kingman Thoroughbred is soundness. You coming on, his first crop literally can be incredibly talented, but if on the cusp, for Prince Khaled you can't string it together-- it's incredibly motivating." either mentally or physically-- In some ways, even the Prince you're not going to end up doing and his team must be learning yourself justice. With the good more about Frankel through his ones, I think they certainly push progeny. Cracksman (GB) themselves to the front, once (Frankel {GB}) is only the most they're rolling." luminous example of many foals One way or another, these are proving able to extend the unusually exciting times even for trademark buoyancy of their sire an operation accustomed to a to a mile and a half. consistent presence in elite "It would have been a huge racing over the past 40 years. mistake for Frankel to go to the Having represented its apogee Lord Teddy Grimthorpe | Tattersalls Derby, at the stage he was at in on the track, Frankel (GB) his career," Grimthorpe says. (Galileo {Ire}) has quickly suggested that he could achieve "But certainly as a 4-year-old I always said he would have been commensurate standing in his new career at stud. effective from five furlongs to a mile and a half. You could have Banstead Manor, headquarters of Prince Khaled's Juddmonte run him in the King's Stand and you could have run him in the breeding empire in Newmarket, recently mourned the death of King George.@ its great mare Hasili (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}) and last week pensioned "To take him to an Arc that year would have been a huge ask: her son Dansili (GB) (Danehill). But there is a timely changing of to go a mile and a half first time in incredibly soft ground. On the guard, with Frankel flanked by other young sires of diverse good ground it might have been different but Henry [Cecil, his strengths in Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Bated Breath late trainer] was adamant he wanted to go to the Champion S.-- (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and, over in Kentucky, Arrogate (Unbridled's and in the end he had to take on the two best horses of that era Song). So albeit their owner is now an octogenarian, and some at that distance anyway [Cirrus Des Aigles (Fr) (Even Top {Ire}) peripheral land and stock has been sensibly streamlined, and Nathaniel]. So it wasn't a side-step.@ arguably he has never had a more stimulating sense of the "His pedigree is a bit of a mixture. His dam Kind (Ire) (Danehill) legacy he continues to build for the breed. was obviously five and six furlongs, but if you go back it's a "Prince Khaled has always been a great >husbander' of Whitney family, you've got Rock Garden, you've got Stage Door families," Grimthorpe notes. "Both in his private life and his Johnny, so there is quite a bit of stamina laid back. And of course bloodstock life, he's a very strong family man. What he's always Galileo has done incredibly well with fast mares. Frankel was done is nurture these families, given them the best chance he certainly the flagbearer for that particular type of mating." possibly could. All those foundations were laid quite a long time Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 23 APRIL 2018 Grimthorpe Relishing Latest Juddmonte Cycle Cont. In view of Frankel's candidature as potentially the ultimate heir to his sire, it is interesting to hear that his defining characteristic as a racehorse--in the view of a man who followed his career from the inside--is so similar to the one always identified in Galileo by his trainer, Aidan O'Brien. Vice President, International Operations I THINK ABOVE ALL FRANKEL HAD THE Gary King WILL. HE WANTED TO DO IT, ALL Twitter: @garykingTDN [email protected] STAGES OF HIS LIFE; HE NEVER REALLY + 1.732.320.0975 EVER TOOK A BACKWARD STEP. I'VE International Editor ALMOST GIVEN UP BEING SURPRISED Kelsey Riley Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN BY FRANKEL, REALLY. [email protected] Lord Teddy Grimthorpe European Editor Emma Berry Twitter: @collingsberry [email protected] Associate International Editor "I think above all Frankel had the will," Grimthorpe suggests. Heather Anderson "He wanted to do it, all stages of his life; he never really ever Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN took a backward step. I've almost given up being surprised by Frankel, really. The hardest thing always for him, even when he Marketing Manager was a yearling, was that he had to carry the weight of Alayna Cullen everybody's vast expectations; and yet he has always seemed to Twitter: @AlaynaCullen carry them quite comfortably. That's been the most [email protected] extraordinary thing about him and I think his stud career so far Contributing Editor has again proved that point really. Like in all sports, he's got to Alan Carasso keep on doing it. But he's given himself a huge chance." Twitter: @EquinealTDN With his fee now ,175,000, it does no harm that Frankel's highest achievers to date have been for others. But it seems Cafe Racing inevitable that he will sooner or later produce something special Sean Cronin from Juddmonte families, too. One possibility is Contingent (GB) Tom Frary (Frankel {GB}), a filly out of G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner [email protected] Proportional (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) who won impressively on Irish Correspondent debut at Leopardstown last autumn. Daithi Harvey "She was drawn 18 of 18, but had got the race pretty much won by the time she came into the straight," Grimthorpe says. Regular Columnists "To do that was smart. I saw her the other day and physically Andrew Caulfield she's done well, though she's still a bit wintry. I think possibly in John Berry Dermot [Weld]'s mind she's more of an Oaks filly.