FRANKEL – a Freak of Nature Or Man-Made Success Story?

FRANKEL – a freak of nature or man-made success story? Why was Frankel such a successful racehorse? A truly unique specimen or an extremely talented individual produced, trained and campaigned perfectly (to hide all imperfection)? And will he enjoy the same amount of success as a breeding stallion? Looking into his pedigree, there is no doubt that he is produced from the crem de la crem of thoroughbred bloodlines. By the great sire, Galileo; who himself was a brilliant racehorse as a winner of the Epsom Derby in 2001. Out of Kind by Danehill. Kind was also successful on a number of occasions over six furlongs. Frankel is line bred in the 3rd and 4th generation to Northern Dancer, a persistent winner in the USA, including of the Kentucky Derby. However, good bloodlines do not necessarily mean a good horse. There are many more ingredients needed to make a horse successful. Namely soundness, attitude, and experienced training, plus lady luck being on your side! Looking at pictures of Northern Dancer, Frankel is of a similar stamp and possesses a number of his traits. In the thoroughbred breeding world, horses are line bred (a form of controlled in-breeding) in order to enhance the wanted traits of a particular bloodline, such as speed or stamina. By adding more of the same blood, you are more likely to achieve a similar animal, so the theory goes. However, you may not achieve the wanted traits, and in fact get unwanted traits such as wind unsoundness or conformational defects. As far as we know, Frankel does not have any unsoundness issues. His conformation is also excellent. He is a powerful, athletic looking horse, with a strong back end (engine) and enormous chest capacity (important to house the heart and lungs). He has an easy, rhythmic gallop stride with an estimated stride length of 22 feet (the average racehorse covers just 20-21 in comparison), and experts speculate that the horse may have a larger than average heart; Frankel obviously has a physical advantage over other horses. He is clearly competitive and intelligent. The horse's exuberance on the racecourse shows his love for the job and a real will to win. Since his birth, everyone directly involved with his breeding and production into a racehorse, reported a star quality and a touch of arrogance. By all accounts, Frankel is quite a character. So we've established that he is blessed with a great pedigree, a near perfect body, and the mind of an athlete. As well as possessing all these attributes, the horse has had the best possible start and production from even before his birth at Banstead Manor Stud, where he now stands as a stallion, one of the best thoroughbred studs in the UK, with fantastic facilities and experts on hand at all times. Following his weaning from his dam, Kind, he was sent to New Abbey Stud in Ireland with the rest of the stud's weanlings to grow and develop, on the best possible land and pasture. Before being sent to Ferrans stud to be started and backed at 18 months old. Frankel was sent to Henry Cecil's yard in Newmarket to begin his training in January 2010. Where his ability was assessed and a plan was made for his racing career. Of course this plan cannot be too rigid, but experienced trainers are able to predict what distance may suit an individual horse fairly early on in it's first season of racing as a two year old. With all these attributes it does beg the question; why was the horse never campaigned over 12 furlongs? He ran twice over 10 furlongs and was a runaway winner. He did not appear to be short of stamina. His sire, Galileo was a prolific winner over 12 furlongs, as was Saddler's Wells, Frankel's grandsire. Indeed, the Saddler's Wells line is a very successful bunch over 12 furlongs and further, having produced many a Derby winner, and also a number at the Cheltenham Festival. We have all forgotten about the great Sea the Stars, who shares the same dam as Galileo, Urban Sea. Sea the Stars won the Epsom Derby and then the Arc to name but a few successes. According to Henry Cecil, Frankel's trainer during his racing career, he did not feel the horse was ready. Others speculated that this was because the horse did not possess the needed stamina for the further trip. The Frankel team have created perfection. Perfect breeding, perfect production, perfect training, perfect luck and a cleverly devised racing campaign in order to create a perfect race record. Many people assume that Frankel is a freak of nature, the unbeatable amazing horse. He's not a freak of nature, in fact he has the odds stacked in his favour. He is a brilliant man made production. So, will he go on to produce brilliant offspring?.. The story starts over again... .

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