FRANKEL DEFENDS QIPCO SUSSEX STAKES CROWN

Click above to watch an insert on Frankel’s win in the QIPCO Sussex Stakes (G1)
(Photo : Bettor - Footage : HorseRaceEquidia)

QIPCO SUSSEX STAKES (Group 1)
Goodwood, Turf, 1609m
1 August 2012

Before yesterday’s G1 Qipco Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, the only meaningful betting was on the winning distance of Frankel (GB) (Galileo), as his Black Caviar-like starting price of 1-20 was prohibitive to say the least. That said, the bookmakers had no option than to deter the punters, and the inevitable duly occurred with Tom Queally having matters wrapped up once the Juddmonte juggernaut had been allowed to stride past his invaluable 3/4-brother Bullet Train (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) approaching the quarter pole. From there, it was like a piece of exercise on the Newmarket gallops as he glided to a six-length defeat of Farhh (GB) (Pivotal) to make it a dozen outings unbeaten and become the first to win this race twice.

Now with an average winning distance of five lengths in all the Group 1 events he has contested, Frankel has also equaled the record set by Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) (Danehill) of seven consecutive successes at the top level in Europe. In doing so, he set himself up perfectly for his first attempt at further than a mile in the G1 Juddmonte International over an extended 10-furlong trip at York in three weeks’ time. Unfortunately, both Khalid Abdullah and Sir Henry Cecil were absent due to health reasons, but Frankel gave them no cause for concern as he extended his stable’s record of wins in this to seven since 1975.

“Every moment spent on his back is a special one and today was no different,” the humble and talented Tom Queally said after guiding his 18th winner at this level for Sir Henry Cecil. “He’s amazing and he had all the other horses cooked a little after halfway. You don’t have to ask him to do an awful lot, and again he put distance between them without doing anything major from my point of view. It was a nice prep for his next race, and he’s a class apart from anything else at the moment. He does it all very easily and therefore I have a very easy job - all I have to do is steer. He’s turning Group 1 races into processions. The crowd really appreciate him, and it’s important that they do.”

Speaking on behalf of the Juddmonte operation and Warren Place was Teddy Grimthorpe, and he was struggling to summarise afterwards. “Frankel is something else - we are lucky to have him and racing is tremendously fortunate,” he said. “He really is just a remarkable equine. Henry and everyone at Warren Place have done a fantastic job, and it’s been a great effort just to get him absolutely spot on. I think it’s hugely exciting that he’s going to step up in trip now. It’s a new challenge for him and it’s what everybody wants to see him do. I think he’s ready to do it, as he’s much more mature, both mentally and physically. He always works wonderfully and keeps putting it in, so it almost becomes the norm, but we have to enjoy it, as these incredible, exceptional horses are what we come into racing for. Henry has that tremendous feel for horses and Tom has built up a great affinity for the horse now. Earlier on in his career, it was probably Frankel that was telling him what he wanted to do, but now it’s a very good combination.”

Despite the ease of his 12th success, Frankel is set to stay on his current world ranking of 140 pounds, according to the British Horseracing Authority’s Mile Handicapper Dominic Gardiner-Hill. “I’m sure that was exactly what his connections wanted - a stroll on the Downs before he tackles a longer trip for the first time at York in three weeks’ time,” he said. “He went into the race with 32 pounds in hand of Gabrial and he has beaten him 9 1/4 lengths, so initial interpretation of that would be that Frankel ran to a mark in the high 120’s or possibly 130, as he won so comfortably. To achieve the highest rating ever, he needs to run in a race where there’s greater strength in depth, and I feel that he can only do that over 10 furlongs. In his races over the last year, he’s really only ever had one horse to beat - Canford Cliffs in this race a year ago, Excelebration in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, JLT Lockinge and Queen Anne, and Farhh this afternoon - but if the likes of Cirrus des Aigles, Nathaniel and St Nicholas Abbey take him on over 10 furlongs, we should get a real handle on just how good he is.”

Extract from Throughbred Daily News

FRANKEL : FRANKLY, THE BEST

Click above to watch Frankel winning the Sussex Stakes (G1)…
(Image : Daily Record - Footage : Racing UK)

QIPCO SUSSEX STAKES (Group 1)
Goodwood, Turf, 1600m
27 July 2011

Just a month ago, after his commanding victory over in the one mile Queen Anne Stakes (Gr1) over the nine time Group One winning filly, Goldikova, Richard Hannon’s Canford Cliffs was hailed as the “Emperor” of European milers, a view that was hammered home by Frankel’s somewhat sub-par performance in the three-year-old version of the same event at the same meeting, the St James Palace Stakes (Gr1), in which he came closest to being defeated for the first time in his career, by a previously unheralded performer. With the renewal of the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood for the 133rd time since its inauguration in 1878, Canford Cliffs was most people’s idea of the most likely horse to lower Frankel’s colours for the first time.

Yet such was the faith in this hitherto seven-times unbeaten three-year-old, he still went off at prohibitive odds-on. Coolmore Stud’s gamble of a substantial investment in Canford Cliffs towards the end of last season, appeared to have paid off as he approached the start with his usual professionalism, and in an exchange of messages with our old pal, Dr. Barry Clements, Down Under, a bit of sparring was triggered when he ventured a prediction of a three length victory for Frankel, with us countering it would be Canford Cliffs by two.

In the end, we all got it wrong, as Frankel romped away by a staggering five, suggesting that he may well be the best miler the world has seen in several decades. He joins an August honour roll of the Sussex’s recent winners, including the colossi Giant’s Causeway, Rock Of Gibraltar, Noverre, Ramonti, Henrythenavigator and Rip Van Winkle.

It’s easy to get carried away with superlatives in a situation like this, but this is a helluva horse, and following on the consummate victory by Galileo’s son, Nathaniel, in Saturday’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr1) at Ascot, this was a whole clutch of feathers in the burgeoning Galileo cap. Let’s not forget, earlier this month, Igugu pretty much guaranteed her place as this year’s Horse Of The Year in South Africa, with her surging victory in the Vodacom Durban July (Gr1), and that the progeny of Galileo have already dominated the European Classics to an unprecedented degree.

Word-spinners are always eager for a good story, but it would not be stretching things too far, even at this relatively early stage, to draw comparisons between Galileo and his own illustrious sire, Sadler’s Wells (hitherto unchallenged as the greatest sire in European history, measured by his stallion championships), and it may even be possible (as unthinkable as it might be,) that Galileo could stake his claim to immortality by surpassing Sadler’s Wells’ 14 titles.