Tag Archives: juddmonte

Frankel reads his Christmas cards from well wishers

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Unbeaten Frankel enjoying his first Christmas in retirement by reading cards from fans

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UPDATED:

22:46 GMT, 23 December 2012

Frankel, the world’s best racehorse, is busy getting ready for his first season as a stallion but like most of us he will enjoy a relaxing Christmas Day.

The Sir Henry Cecil-trained unbeaten colt, whose new breeding is scheduled to begin on Valentine’s Day, has been taken on a series of seven-mile walks as part of his preparations at Banstead Manor Stud, near Newmarket.

Judging by his mail-bag, he clearly remains as popular as ever. Over the last few days Frankel has been keeping a close eye on all the Christmas cards that he has received with the help of Juddmonte’s head stallion man Rob Bowley.

Season's greetings: Frankel looks at his Christmas cards with head stallion man Rob Bowley

Season's greetings: Frankel looks at his Christmas cards with head stallion man Rob Bowley

Philip Michell, Juddmonte Farms general manager, said: “Frankel touched the lives of so many people during his career and we have been inundated with emails and cards enquiring about him – not least in the lead-up to Christmas.

‘All being well, we are intending to stage a series of stud tours next summer when people can come to visit him and the other stallions at Banstead Manor and find out more about the breeding industry.

Unbeaten: Frankel wins theThe Sussex Stakes

Unbeaten: Frankel wins theThe Sussex Stakes

‘Frankel is enjoying his new life with us here and is already very much at home.’

A line of top mares are already booked in to mate with Frankel, the latest being German 2011 Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe winner Danedream whose retirement was announced last Friday.

Frankel stud fee set at 125,000

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Frankel stud fee set at 125,000 (well, he is the best horse in the world)

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UPDATED:

15:18 GMT, 14 November 2012

Frankel will stand at stud for a fee of 125,000.

Rated as the greatest horse in the world, Frankel was expected to stand for around 100,000 after retiring on the back of a 14-race unbeaten career.

He will be based in Newmarket at owner Khalid Abdullah's Banstead Manor Farm.

Settling in: Frankel arrived at Juddmonte Farms Banstead Manor Stud last week

Settling in: Frankel arrived at Juddmonte Farms Banstead Manor Stud last week

Juddmonte Farms 2013 fees

Bated Breath – 8,000
Champs Elysees – 5,000
Dansili – 80,000
Frankel – 125,000
Oasis Dream – 80,000
Rail Link – 5,000
Zamindar – 10,000

Juddmonte Farms general manager Philip Mitchell said: 'We believe our stallion roster is the best we have been able to offer breeders – and we are very excited with both of our new arrivals.

'The fee for Frankel reflects his merits as being perhaps the greatest racehorse we have ever witnessed. He is by Galileo, who is now recognised as the best sire in the world, and out of Kind, a winner of six races (from five to seven furlongs) and herself a daughter of one of the most influential stallions in the history of thoroughbred breeding, Danehill.

Curtain call: Frankel won the Champion Stakes in October and retired unbeaten

Curtain call: Frankel won the Champion Stakes in October and retired unbeaten

'Bated Breath (8,000) will give breeders the opportunity to use a most genuine sprinter who was placed second in four Group One races. Ironically, his father Dansili started his career at the same fee and he also just failed to win a Group One race.'

Dansili and Oasis Dream, Juddmonte's two previous standard bearers, will stand for 80,000.

Mitchell added: 'We have made minor adjustments to the fees of our two major stalwarts Dansili and Oasis Dream as we believe both of these world-class sires to be equally successful.'

Frankel settling into new home at Banstead Manor Stud

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Frankel's back at start as world's greatest settles into stud where he was born

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UPDATED:

16:18 GMT, 8 November 2012

Feline fine: Frankel meets his new friend at Banstead

Feline fine: Frankel meets his new friend at Banstead

Frankel, the world's highest-rated racehorse, has begun settling into his new home after he left Sir Henry Cecil’s stable and returned to his birthplace, Banstead Manor Stud.

The Newmarket stud, just a few miles from Cecil's stable, will be where Frankel's new career as a stallion for Juddmonte Farms will start next year.

Philip Mitchell, the stud's general manager, said: 'In the foaling unit on February 11, 2008, at 11.40pm, little did we realise that we were witnessing the birth of a phenomenal racehorse.

'The rest as they say is history. And it is now extremely exciting that Frankel will be returning to the Stallion Unit at Banstead, some 500 yards from where he was born.'

Frankel is retired to stud as the winner of all 14 of his races, 10 of which came at Group One level. His glittering racing career came to end when he won the Champion Stakes at Ascot on October 20.

Paying tribute to his champion, Cecil said: 'There is no doubt Frankel has been a brilliant racehorse. I am pretty certain that there has never been a better or more talented thoroughbred.

Greatest: The unbeaten Frankel has been retired to stud back at his birthplace

Greatest: The unbeaten Frankel has been retired to stud back at his birthplace

Greatest: The unbeaten Frankel has been retired to stud back at his birthplace

‘He had the speed to be a champion sprinter and then, once he grew up and settled, he got a distance with a turn of foot that makes champions.

'Today is a sad day in some ways for us as he has given us so much pleasure over the last three years. But I want to thank Frankel for so much – for being such a very special part of my training career. Thank you, Frankel.'

Frankel trainer Sir Henry Cecil sets his sights on the Champions Stakes for final run

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Just Champion for Frankel as trainer Cecil sets his sights on Ascot for final run

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UPDATED:

21:26 GMT, 23 August 2012

The Champion Stakes at Ascot on
October 20 is still the likeliest race for Frankel's final run despite
his team admitting that the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has not been
discounted completely.

Coral quote Sir Henry Cecil's
unbeaten colt at 1-4 favourite (with a run) for the Arc after his
seven-length romp in Wednesday's Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

Plan: Lord Grimthorpe

Plan: Lord Grimthorpe

But Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khaled Abdullah, said: 'The whole point of my job is to lay out the possibilities but we want to do the best for the horse and not be greedy with him.

'You have to discuss the other options. He is not in the Arc so it would need serious discussion but, at this moment, the Champion Stakes is favourite.'

Grimthorpe, who reported that Frankel had come back to the yard 'looking very pleased with himself', conceded that Cecil has always favoured the Champion Stakes, run for the first time on the new British Champions Day last year, and said that there would be no change in the plan to retire Frankel at the end of the season.

He added: 'The best time to leave a party is when you least want to go.

BLOW FOR MOORE

Sidelined jockey Ryan Moore had cause to curse his luck still further after watching title rival Richard Hughes steer 9-2 chance Rosdhu Queen to a smooth victory over Baileys Jubilee in York's Jaguar Lowther Stakes.

Moore broke his wrist at Warwick on Tuesday evening after a fall from Cresta Star, ironically a filly that Hughes would probably have been riding if he had not been suspended that day.

Hughes, now 1-6 favourite to land his first jockeys title after moving on to 99 wins, three behind Moore, sympathised with his colleague saying 'Sometimes there does not seem any justice.'

Hughes has a full book of rides at York today including three juvenile mounts for his guv'nor and father-in-law Richard Hannon on Pearl Acclaim, Wentworth and Indignant.

'Nice though it would be to carry on , he has given us three unbelievable years.'

However, providing the going is not soft, the Arc is a serious option for Alain de Royer-Dupre's Shareta after she caught John Gosden's 7-4 favourite The Fugue in the final 100 yards of yesterday's Yorkshire Oaks to win by a neck.

Shareta, whose first objective is the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp on September 16, finished second to Danedream in last year's Arc and that will be her main target again, weather permitting.

On a rare bad day for Gosden this season, his Royal Ascot winner Newfangled was being assessed last night after injuring a pelvis and being pulled up after a furlong of the Lowther Stakes won by William Haggas's Rosdhu Queen.

The hope is that Newfangled will be saved but sadly the career of a filly who headed the betting for next year's 1,000 Guineas yesterday morning now looks over.

Irish trainer Dermot Weld saddled his second winner on the Knavesmire in successive days when the lightly-raced Pale Mimosa won the Galtres Stakes.

Having just her third start, Pat Smullen brought her down the centre of the track and she pulled two-and-a-quarter lengths clear of the Queen's Sequence. She will now be aimed at the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster.

Weld, who was successful with Olympiad in the staying handicap on the opening day of the meeting, said: 'It was a terrific performance. We have been waiting for a bit of decent ground for her.'

Frankel will not race at the Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes

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No Irish Champion Stakes bid for Frankel, says Sir Cecil

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UPDATED:

12:54 GMT, 24 May 2012

Sir Henry Cecil feels the Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes does not fit into Frankel's schedule after taking the world-beating colt out of the Leopardstown Group One.

The four-year-old son of Galileo stretched his unbeaten record to 10 races with a devastating performance in the JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.

Frankel will not, however, take up an assignment in Ireland on September 8, for which stablemate Twice Over is still one of 50 entries.

Super star: Tom Queally riding Frankel at Newbury

Super star: Tom Queally riding Frankel at Newbury

Cecil told the Guardian: 'It's a great race and everything, but it's not in his programme.

'If, say, he's going to go for the Sussex Stakes (Goodwood, August 1) and then the Juddmonte (York, August 22), then he can't run in that, too.

'We can't enter him in everything.'