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Tag: Europe
Racing’s Unique Claim to Sporting Immortality
Only in racing are the best sent off to stud to produce new – or preferably better – versions of themselves. Roger Federer, say, will have fielded countless offers for his retirement years – but not that one.
To watch magisterial Thoroughbreds race is privilege enough. But we then get to see fresh manifestations of them arrive as foals. Champions retire but their progeny take over and keep the family story going.
For many of us the end of Frankel's racing career was hard to bear. Yours truly felt a bit better about it after a visit to Juddmonte to give him a pat and write about his new life as a stallion. His change of role was such big news that BBC Radio 5 Live broadcast a 90-minute programme on how it might turn out.
When I made the pilgrimage to Juddmonte, he was showing early promise. Now, he is the big daddy of sires. It's Frankel's world: we all just live in it.
The last week or so has affirmed once more his extraordinary potency. First, his grandson (via Cracksman) Ace Impact won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with an exhilarating burst of power. Chasing him home were two sons of Frankel, Westover and Onesto. A couple of hours later his daughter Kelina won the Group 1 Prix de Fôret. Longchamp's podium on Arc day was the Frankel show.
Then, four days later, a Frankel colt out of Bizzarria became (at current exchange rates) the most expensive yearling sold this year in Europe, falling to MV Magnier for 2 million guineas from Tattersalls October Book 1. Coolmore were splashing on a son of the fastest sire in history to reach 50 Group winners: a stallion with 10 Group 1 winners already in 2023.
To the bloodstock industry it's a numbers game. Yet each Frankel colt or filly represents him in a way more profound than the income generated or their status on a pedigree chart – important though they are.
On racetracks and in betting shops, most punters won't care who was the sire or dam of the quadruped carrying their bet, except as a piece of data (“will he get the trip?”). Readers of this publication will know that pedigrees are a richly fascinating second dimension for the sport: a realm of hit and miss, serendipitous pairings, and, when it works, eternal life for sire and dam.
There was a problem with sending Frankel to stud. It was virtually impossible for him to sire a superior son or daughter. The same might be said of Sea The Stars, and others. But Frankel had something extra: a perfect record of 14 wins and an exuberant, Hollywood racing style, topped off with a will – or make that a need – to win. And he raced on as a four-year-old, proof of his resilience.
The package felt unsurpassable. Even with the world's best mares to buddy up with, all Frankel could do was fertilise versions of himself that were good but less good than he had been. There were other frontiers for him. His own racing range from three-to-four years old was eight-to-10 furlongs. Perhaps he could spawn a champion mile-and-a-half-horse, or even a stayer? Well, this year he has laid claim to an Ascot Gold Cup winner (Courage Mon Ami) and, as grandsire, the best middle-distance horse in Europe, Ace Impact.
The successful second life bestowed on arguably the greatest horse to have
raced in Britain is immensely pleasing.
By Galileo, 12 times the champion sire in Europe, Frankel is creating a dynasty almost as striking as his 10 Group 1 wins on the track from 2010-2012, that golden age.
Twelve per cent of his runners have won Group races. In 2023 he has dispatched from his boudoir the 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean and Soul Sister, who won the Oaks. Last year his nine Group 1 winners made him the world's leading stallion by that measure. Westover, Nashwa, Homeless Songs, Alpinista and Inspiral were all his. His sons already at stud include Cracksman, Without Parole, Elarqam and Logician, who stands as a National Hunt stallion, as if to tick yet another box.
The successful second life bestowed on arguably the greatest horse to have raced in Britain is immensely pleasing. So many of his offspring present his urge to race and dominate – and to quicken. So many of them have natural enthusiasm – and gears. Now, he's a mellow soul led to daily dalliances. Never again will we see his sumptuous flowing stride. But he lives on as a racehorse. The entertainment he lavished on us renews itself.
You can't help feeling that racegoers who have no interest in pedigrees and think of breeding as a remote industrial satellite of betting are missing out.
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Bricks And Mortar Sires First Stakes Winner In Japan
American Horse of the Year Bricks And Mortar (Giant's Causeway) sired his first stakes winner when his first-crop son Gonbade Qabus (Jpn) ran out a two-length winner of the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup at Tokyo on Saturday.
A winner over this course and distance on his debut in June, the 8-1 chance jumped well and floated back through the field to race at the tail down the backstretch as Reve Genial (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) cut out fractions of :23.30 for the first 400 metres and :46.90 for the half-mile. Produced for his run around the 500-metre mark, the blaze-faced dark bay fanned out into the middle of the course by the quarter-pole, drove past his rivals 200 metres later and won going away in this 1600-metre affair. It was tight for second, with the short-priced favourite Bond Girl (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) a neck in front of Strauss (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}). Reve Genial hung on four fourth, another three-quarters-of-a-length behind.
Pedigree Notes
The winning Deep Impact mare Affilato (Jpn) took until her 6-year-old year to earn black type, and she accomplished that with a third in the G3 Nakayama Himba S. At stud, Gonbade Qabus is the second winner of two foals out of Affilato, who also has a yearling colt by Epiphaneia (Jpn).
His second dam Lady Of Venice (Fr) (Loup Solitaire) won a trio of graded races in the U.S., and, in addition to Affilato, produced the G3 Keisei Hai second Action Star (Jpn) (Agnes Tachyon {Jpn}). Father back in the pedigree is Classic winner and sire Soviet Star (Nureyev)and GI Santa Barbara H. heroine The Very One (One For All).
Saturday, Tokyo, Japan
SAUDI ARABIA ROYAL CUP, ¥63,050,000, Tokyo, 10-7, 2yo, 1600mT, 1:33.40, fm.
1–GONBADE QABUS (JPN), 123, c, 2, by Bricks and Mortar
1st Dam: Affilato (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Lady of Venice (Fr), by Loup Solitaire
3rd Dam: Lacewings, by Forty Niner
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. O-G1 Racing;
B-Shiraoi Farm (Jpn); T-Noriyuki Hori; J-Kohei Matsuyama;
¥33,315,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, ¥40,515,000. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: D. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Bond Girl (Jpn), 121, f, 2, Daiwa Major (Jpn)–Coasted, by
Tizway. 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE.
(¥210,000,000 Ylg '22 JRHAJUL). O-Susumu Fujita; B-Northern
Farm (Jpn); ¥13,090,000.
3–Strauss (Jpn), 123, c, 2, Maurice (Jpn)–Blumenblatt (Jpn) by
Admire Vega (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE.
O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥8,345,000.
Margins: 2, NK, 3/4. Odds: 8.60, 0.40, 1.80.
Also Ran: Reve Genial (Jpn), Ecoro Mars (Jpn), Win Acteur (Jpn), Meiner Bricks (Jpn), Happy Surprise (Jpn), Marine Bunker (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video.
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Inspiral Gives Frankie His 500th Newmarket Win In The Sun Chariot
Frankie's farewell tour took another notable turn on Saturday as Cheveley Park Stud's brilliant Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}– Starscope {GB}, by Selkirk) dominated the G1 Sun Chariot S. to provide the rider with his 500th Newmarket winner.
Always travelling like the clear-best filly in the line-up with Dettori keen to wait behind the leader, the 10-11 favourite was unleashed towards the far rail three out and surged to the line with relish to score by 3 3/4 lengths from Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), with Heredia (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) 3/4 of a length away in third.
“She showed the world today what a superstar horse she is,” Dettori said after the expected warm welcome back to the winner's enclosure he knows so well and where he received a curtsey from the filly's owner-breeder Patricia Thompson. “We knew the pace wasn't going to be that strong and she wants a much stronger tempo. She has got a crescendo of three furlongs and I didn't want to mess around so I thought 'come on let's go and let them come and try to catch you'. She has strode out really well.”
“She gave me a nightmare ride in France, but today she was good,” Dettori added. “I was quite worried when she was so quiet, as when they are quiet it is maybe because they are over the top or maybe they are in season, but that wasn't the case. She was quiet because she was having a good day. It has been my home for 38 years. It is fantastic to be able to do it in a Group 1 on a special filly. I couldn't have written a better ending.”
On her day and when conditions suit, Inspiral is a force to be reckoned with as she proved with impressive wins in Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. last June and in the last two editions of Deauville's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. Not at her best when second in last year's G1 Falmouth S. on the July Course here and in the G1 Queen Anne S. on her 2023 bow, she had testing ground as the excuse when out of the frame in both the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. in October and in the G1 Sussex S. in August.
Now the Gosdens are rightly thinking of the Breeders' Cup Mile, with Inspiral's dynamic acceleration and powerful finish clear indication that this is a filly heading into the autumn in rare form. Her two splits between three out and the furlong pole were completed in :11.21 and :11.01 and that is the kind of speed on demand that wins out at next month's World Championships. “She is in the QEII and she could be entered at the Breeders' Cup, but we won't make a decision for at least a week or two,” Gosden Sr said.
“She was in top form today,” he added. “She showed a lot of class today there is no doubt about it. She travelled well and there was a good pace. Andre's dual Group 1 winner from Deauville was second, so it is solid form. We missed the Lockinge as she had a muscle spasm problem, so by the time we got to Royal Ascot she was only about 80% fit. She was only beaten a neck that day and she got a touch tired in the last half a furlong, but she has been faultless since.”
“There was a lot more pressure on today as she is a very good filly and the ground is quicker here than we would expect to find here in the autumn. It is real fast summer ground, but she has run absolutely superbly and I couldn't be more pleased. One lady will decide if she races on and that is Mrs. Thompson. That was only her fourth run this year and she is weighing the heaviest she has ever weighed.”
Pedigree Notes
Inspiral's dam Starscope was runner-up over this course and distance in the G1 1000 Guineas and also in the Coronation S. that her daughter so dominated last summer. Also responsible for the listed-placed middle-distance performer Celestran (GB) (Dansili {GB}), she is a daughter of the Stud's Moon Goddess (GB) (Rainbow Quest) whose half-siblings include the G1 Eclipse S. and G1 Juddmonte International-winning leading sire Medicean (GB). From the dynasty of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero and leading sire Caro (Ire), Starscope's unraced 2-year-old colt by Siyouni (Fr) is named Megastar (GB), while she also has a yearling colt by Ulysses (Ire) and a foal full-sister to Inspiral.
Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
VIRGIN BET SUN CHARIOT S.-G1, £291,580, Newmarket, 10-7, 3yo/up, f/m, 8fT, 1:35.65, g/f.
1–INSPIRAL (GB), 131, f, 4, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Starscope (GB) (MG1SP-Eng, $251,626), by Selkirk
2nd Dam: Moon Goddess (GB), by Rainbow Quest
3rd Dam: Mystic Goddess, by Storm Bird
O-Cheveley Park Stud; B-Cheveley Park Stud Limited (GB); T-John & Thady Gosden; J-Frankie Dettori. £165,355. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Fr, 12-8-2-0, $2,599,932. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Mqse de Sevigne (Ire), 131, f, 4, Siyouni (Fr)–Penne (Fr), by Sevres Rose (Ire). O-Baron Edouard De Rothschild; B-SC Ecurie De Meautry (IRE); T-Andre Fabre. £62,690.
3–Heredia (GB), 131, f, 4, Dark Angel (Ire)–Nakuti (Ire), by Mastercraftsman (Ire).
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-St Albans Bloodstock Limited; B-St Albans Bloodstock LLP (GB); T-Richard Hannon. £31,374.
Margins: 3 3/4, 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 0.91, 3.30, 6.00.
Also Ran: Coppice (GB), Meditate (Ire), Random Harvest (Ire), Roman Mist (Ire), Goldana (Ire).
The Farwell Tour script continues to write itself!
A straightforward victory for Inspiral in the Group 1 @VirginBet Sun Chariot Stakes for John & @thadygosden
A 5⃣0⃣0⃣ th win @NewmarketRace for @FrankieDettori pic.twitter.com/oFd81mcJqL
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 7, 2023
The post Inspiral Gives Frankie His 500th Newmarket Win In The Sun Chariot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
The Farwell Tour script continues to write itself!
A straightforward victory for Inspiral in the Group 1