QIPCO
BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY 2012
RACENEWS
RACECOURSE SERVICE
ASCOT,
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20
FRANKEL
(GB) FACTFILE
4 b c
Galileo (IRE) - Kind (IRE) (Danehill (USA))
Form:
1111/11111-11111 Owner: Khalid Abdulla Trainer: Sir Henry Cecil
Jockey:
Tom Queally Breeder: Juddmonte Farms Ltd Born: February 11, 2008
Frankel
In 14
racecourse appearances, the unbeaten Frankel has more than proved a fitting
tribute to the legendary US trainer Bobby Frankel, who provided owner/breeder
Khalid Abdulla with a host of big-race victories in America until his death
from cancer at the age of 68 in November, 2009. The home-bred son of Galileo
is a three-parts brother to 2010 Lingfield Derby Trial winner Bullet Train, a
five-year-old who acts as his pacemaker these days, and a full-brother to
three-year-old Noble Mission, winner of the Group Three Gordon Stakes at Glorious
Goodwood in 2012. Frankel made an eye-catching winning debut when readily
scoring in a mile maiden on Newmarket's July Course on August 13, 2010, as he
beat subsequent dual Group One victor Nathaniel by half a length. He built on
that promising start when quickening clear of two rivals for a bloodless
13-length victory in a seven-furlong conditions race at Doncaster's St Leger
meeting on September 10 that year. The manner of his win saw Frankel
propelled towards the head of the ante-post markets for both the 2011 QIPCO
2,000 Guineas and the Investec Derby and he showed himself as a juvenile of
uncommon ability with a stunning success in the Group Two Juddmonte Royal
Lodge Stakes over a mile at Ascot on September 25. 2010. Not content with the
sedate pace, Tom Queally took up the running entering the straight and
Frankel accelerated away from the field with ease to gain an almost
effortless 10-length triumph over Klammer. His trainer then suggested that
Frankel was the finest juvenile to have passed through his hands since Wollow
in 1975 (who subsequently went on to win the 2,000 Guineas). Frankel's final
start of 2010 came at Newmarket on October 16 in the Group One Dubai Dewhurst
Stakes. A strong line-up for the prestigious seven-furlong event also included
dual Group One winner Dream Ahead and impressive Group Two victor Saamidd.
Held up at the rear of the field, Frankel began to make smooth progress with
three furlongs remaining and led before the furlong pole, defeating Roderic
O'Connor by two and a quarter lengths in good style. The runner-up strongly
endorsed the form when winning a Group One in France afterwards. Frankel was
the joint champion two-year-old in Europe on official ratings with Dream
Ahead - rated 126 as well as being named the Two-Year-Old Colt of 2010 at the
Cartier Racing Awards. Frankel reappeared in 2011 in the seven-furlong Group
Three Greenham Stakes at Newbury on April 16, when he went to the front
passing the three-furlong marker to record a comfortable four-length success
over subsequent French Group One winner Excelebration. He started the
shortest-priced favourite in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket since
Apalachee, third at 4/9 in 1974, going off at ½. He galloped his opponents
into submission in the mile Classic and was over 10 lengths clear before
halfway, winning most impressively by six lengths from Dubawi Gold with the
field strung out. After this truly stunning performance, he headed to Royal
Ascot for the Group One St James's Palace Stakes, also over a mile, on June 14
and extended his unbeaten run. But the victory was not delivered in the
manner expected by his legion of admirers. Queally sent the colt to the lead
with well over three furlongs remaining and Frankel was six lengths clear
with a quarter of a mile to run. After such an explosive mid-race burst
however, his momentum decreased markedly inside the final furlong, allowing
the fast closing Zoffany to get within three quarters of a length at the
line. Frankel took on older rivals for the first time in the QIPCO Sussex
Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on July 27 last year, with his main opposition
set to come from five-time Group One winner Canford Cliffs in a race billed
as the 'Duel on the Downs'. In reality the mile contest looked distinctly
one-sided as Frankel made the running before powering clear for an imperious
five-length success. Connections briefly toyed with the idea of stepping
Frankel up to a mile and a quarter for either the Juddmonte International or
the QIPCO British Champions Stakes, deciding on the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
Sponsored by QIPCO on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot, October 15, when
he cruised to a four-length victory over Excelebration. The World
Thoroughbred Rankings for 2011 handed Frankel a rating of 136, 4lb clear of
the outstanding Australian sprinter Black Caviar, making him officially the
best horse in the world. He was Cartier Horse Of The Year and Cartier
Three-Year-Old Colt in 2011. He began the current season at Newbury on May
19, when he sauntered to a facile five-length victory over his old rival
Excelebration in the Group One JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury over a mile.
Despite that deficit being the biggest in four meetings with Excelebration,
Sir Henry Cecil was expecting a sharper performance at Royal Ascot and the four-year-old
did not disappoint. Frankel faced 10 rivals including Excelebration in the
Group One Queen Anne Stakes over the straight mile - the opening race of the
meeting - and produced a performance of the very highest quality, routing the
field for an emphatic 11-length victory. In the aftermath of the performance,
Timeform gave Frankel a rating of 147, the highest in the organisation's
64-year history, while the British Horseracing Authority increased Frankel's
rating to 140, 1lb behind Khalid Abdulla's outstanding 1986 Prix de l'Arc de
Triomphe winner Dancing Brave. He achieved another first when capturing his
second QIPCO Sussex Stakes at Goodwood by six lengths on August 1. Frankel
ran beyond a mile for the first time when contesting the Group One Juddmonte
International over an extended 10 furlongs at York on August 22. The
nine-strong field included a host of top-class performers including St
Nicholas Abbey, Farhh and Twice Over, but Frankel treated them with complete
disdain, cruising into the lead two furlongs out before striding clear for a
seven-length victory. The ease of his success persuaded connections to
contemplate the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe over an extra furlong and a half
but Khalid Abdulla's racing manager, Lord Grimthorpe, confirmed, after a
period of consideration, that Frankel's target was today's QIPCO Champion
Stakes at Ascot which he won in good style today. The 10-furlong showpiece
was Frankel's final race before a career at stud. Frankel has started
favourite in all his races and, bar his debut, went off at odds-on. Tom
Queally has ridden Frankel every time he has run.
Race
Record: Starts: 14; 1st: 14 2nd:-; 3rd:-; Win & Place Prize Money:
£2,998,302
Khalid
Abdulla
Prince
Khalid Abdulla(h), who prefers to be known as plain Mr K Abdulla on the
racecard, is a first cousin to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He owns
extensive racing and breeding interests in America, Britain, France and
Ireland. He is a semi-retired businessman who, along with his four sons,
presides over a huge conglomerate, the Mawarid Group, in Saudi Arabia and
beyond. He developed a love for British racing during the 1960s when renting
a house in London and, with the help of former trainer Humphrey Cottrill, had
his first winner on May 14, 1979, when the Jeremy Tree-trained Charming
Native scored at Windsor. Born in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 1937, Abdulla has
been one of the most successful owner-breeders in Europe over the past four
decades and is the only current owner to have owned and bred the winners of
all five British Classics. The first British Classic success came when Known
Fact was awarded the 1980 QIPCO 2,000 Guineas on the disqualification of
Nureyev. He has won the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas thrice more, thanks to Dancing
Brave (1986), Zafonic (1993) and Frankel (2011) who promises to be best of
them all, while in 1990 Quest For Fame gave him an initial Investec Derby
triumph, followed by Commander In Chief in 1993 and Workforce in 2010. His
only Ladbrokes St Leger victory came with the Andre Fabre-trained Toulon in
1991. Abdulla also races with great success in France, Ireland and the United
States, where under the Juddmonte Farms banner he won a Triple Crown race in
2003 with Empire Maker in the Belmont Stakes. In 2003, Abdulla became
champion owner in both Britain (78 winners) and France (58 winners), while he
also finished third in the USA owners' championship. The full-sisters out of
Hasili, Banks Hill (2001) and Intercontinental (2005), gave Abdulla a notable
pair of victories in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, a race he also
annexed in 2009 with three-time Nassau Stakes (2009, 2010 & 2011) winner
Midday. Hasili also produced the owner's dual Grade One winning mare Heat
Haze, trained by the late Bobby Frankel. 2010 was a superb year and Abdulla
finished it as champion owner in Britain (74 winners & prize money of
over £3 million) for the second time, while Juddmonte was crowned the top
breeder once again. Workforce won both the Investec Derby and Qatar Prix de
l'Arc de Triomphe in great style, while the unbeaten Frankel was crowned
joint-champion European juvenile after victory in the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes.
Special Duty also won two 2010 Classics in the stewards' room. In the QIPCO
1,000 Guineas at Newmarket, she was promoted to first ahead of Jacqueline Quest
after finishing a nose second and in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, the
filly was awarded first place after coming home the head runner-up to
Liliside. Abdulla's other 1,000 Guineas win came with Wince in 1999. Twice
Over has also been a leading light over the past few seasons, taking the
Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket in 2009 and 2010 as well as the
2010 Coral-Eclipse and 2011 Juddmonte International. Frankel is probably
Abdulla's greatest horse and remains unbeaten in 14 races, 10 of which have
come at Group One level, including the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace
Stakes, QIPCO Sussex Stakes (2011 & 2012), Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
sponsored by QIPCO, the Queen Anne Stakes, the Juddmonte International and
the QIPCO Champion Stakes. Frankel's exploits last year played a large part
in Abdulla winning another owners' championship in Britain in 2011 (63 wins
and over £3.4 million in prize money). The owner's Juddmonte breeding
operation has nine properties in England, Ireland and Kentucky, including the
373-acre Banstead Manor Stud just outside Newmarket and the 2,500-acre
Juddmonte Farms south of Lexington. Juddmonte Farms stand 10 stallions,
including Oasis Dream and Dansili, as well as outstanding broodmares in
Britain and the US including Hasili, Toussaud and Slightly Dangerous. Abdulla
is an honorary member of the British Jockey Club and his daughter was married
to the late Prince Fahd Salman, owner of 1991 Derby victor Generous. His
notable horses have included the great Dancing Brave, narrowly beaten in the
1986 Derby but successful in the 2,000 Guineas, Eclipse, King George VI &
Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Rainbow Quest, Warning,
Danehill, Reams Of Verse, Rail Link, Zafonic, Oasis Dream, Chester House,
Observatory, Xaar, All At Sea, Commander In Chief, Sanglamore, Ryafan,
Exbourne, Marquetry, Raintrap, Sun Shack, Aptitude, Senure, Tates Creek,
Cacique, Ventura and Proviso. Abdulla has over 300 broodmares and a similar
number of horses in training. Lord Grimthorpe is his racing manager in Europe
and Dr John Chandler oversees his US interests. He has won 10 Eclipse Awards
in America as well as plenty of Cartier Racing Awards in Europe including the
Award of Merit in 2002.
Sir
Henry Cecil
Sir
Henry Cecil, who was awarded a knighthood for services to racing in the
Queen's 2011 Birthday Honours List, has been Britain's champion trainer 10
times and is master of Warren Place Stables in Newmarket. Since taking out a
licence in 1969, he has compiled a record of success that ranks him among the
pantheon of training legends. He has won 36 European Classics, including 25
in Britain, collected over 400 Pattern successes and saddled well over 3,000
individual winners. He is also the most successful trainer at Royal Ascot,
having won 75 races at the meeting. Henry Richard Amherst Cecil was born in
Aberdeen on January 11, 1943, 10 minutes before his twin brother David, with
whom he enjoyed a close bond. His father, Captain Henry Cecil of the Welsh
Guards, brother of the third Baron Amherst of Hackney, was killed in action
in North Africa some two weeks prior to the birth. Henry's widowed mother
Rohays subsequently married royal trainer Sir Cecil Boyd-Rochfort and moved
her brood of four boys to Freemason Lodge from the family farm near
Newmarket. His formative years at Freemason Lodge stables, along with his
brothers Bow, James, David and later Arthur, infused a desire to pursue a
life in racing. This was undoubtedly detrimental to any potential academic
distractions that may have robbed the sport of one of its most intuitive
talents. In his book, On The Level, published in 1983, Cecil recalls at the
age of seven being sent to prep school at Sunningdale where, with his twin
David, he "went straight to the bottom form and stayed there". He
failed to get into Eton and spent the remainder of his school life at Canford
School in Dorset, which he left with 10 O-Levels, before embarking on a
high-spirited year at Cirencester's Royal Agricultural College, where he and
David "studied drinking and gambling", before leaving without
sitting any exams. Henry was destined for a career in stud management until
accepting the role of assistant to his step-father in 1964. Two years later
he married Julie Murless, daughter of the great trainer Sir Noel Murless.
Boyd-Rochfort, the man he called Uncle Cecil, retired at the end of the 1968
Flat season, at which point Henry took over the reins at Freemason Lodge. He
did not exactly hit the ground running and it was two months before he
sighted the winner's enclosure. His initial victory as a licensed trainer
came on May 17, 1969, when Celestial Cloud was the short-head winner of an
amateur riders' event at Ripon. That success came after a piece of anxious
advice from his then father-in-law. After watching the Cecil string work, Sir
Noel Murless, never one to interfere, awkwardly declared: "Your horses
are galloping like a lot of old gentlemen. You must make them work."
Henry gratefully heeded the advice and big-race glory soon followed with
Wolver Hollow in the 1969 Eclipse. A move to Marriott Stables brought his
first European Classic, courtesy of Cloonagh in the 1973 Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Bolkonski's win in the 1975 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket set the ball rolling
in Britain. Wollow's 2,000 Guineas victory a year later came in his first
season training at Warren Place, formerly the yard of his father-in-law, and
heralded an era of success that has etched his name indelibly in the annals
of racing greatness. As the 1980s dawned, the Henry Cecil legend took shape.
Supported by wife Julie, head man Paddy Rudkin, travelling head man George
Winsor and others, he reigned supreme. He ended the 1979 season as champion
trainer with a 20th century record of 128 wins to his name. That was his
third title in four seasons, in a year that saw One In A Million land the
QIPCO 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket and Le Moss and Kris emerge as champions.
The following decade brought five more training titles, while eight
individual British Classic winners, including the Derby heroes Slip Anchor
(1985) and Reference Point (1987), and the brilliant fillies' Triple Crown
scorer Oh So Sharp (1985), were complemented by champions such as Ardross,
Diesis, Indian Skimmer and Old Vic. In 1985, the year of Slip Anchor and Oh
So Sharp, Henry became the first trainer in history to pass the £1-million
mark in prize money. The 1987 season brought an even more phenomenal feat as
Warren Place runners captured 180 races, smashing John Day's 1867 record of
146. Success continued throughout the next decade with a further clutch of
Classic triumphs including four Oaks wins in five years with Lady Carla
(1996), Reams Of Verse (1997), Ramruma (1999) and Love Divine (2000). He
produced the brilliant Bosra Sham to be champion filly, nursing her fragile feet
with the patience and care with which he is renowned, while enjoying two
further successes in the Derby with Commander In Chief (1993) and Oath
(1999). The latter's owner, the late Prince Ahmed Salman, summed up the
feeling of many after Oath's triumph when he said, "winning Classics is
easy. You just buy a horse and send it to Henry Cecil". The years have
seen many of his owner-breeders pass away, while the loss of Sheikh
Mohammed's patronage in 1995 was an undoubted blow. The numbers housed at
Warren Place fell dramatically from a peak of near 200, so that by midway
through the decade 2000 to 2010 Cecil was no longer seen as a force in the
contests that mattered. Owners deserted him, though notably Khalid Abdulla
and the Niarchos Family remained loyal. The family standard, run up the flag
pole after each Group One win, gathered dust for over six years after Beat
Hollow's Grand Prix de Paris win in 2000. In 2006, however, a corner was
turned as Multidimensional gave Cecil his first Pattern success in four
years. October of that year marked a return to the top table as the Khalid
Abdulla-owned Passage Of Time captured the Group One Criterium de
Saint-Cloud. Classic success made a welcome return to Warren Place in 2007
when Light Shift, owned by the Niarchos Family, clinched an emotional success
in the Investec Oaks under Ted Durcan, while Midday went close to handing the
stable a ninth victory in the premier fillies' Classic when a close runner-up
to Sariska in 2009. The Khalid Abdulla-owned filly subsequently proved a bona
fide superstar, with an unprecedented three victories in the Nassau Stakes at
Goodwood in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as well as the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix
Vermeille in 2010. She also provided Cecil with a first success at the
Breeders' Cup when landing the 2009 Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita.
Twice Over has also been a standard bearer for Warren Place over the past few
seasons, taking the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket in 2009 and
2010 as well as the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in 2010 and York's Juddmonte
International in 2011. The unbeaten Frankel is the latest superstar on the
block, having won 14 races, 10 of which have come at Group One level (the
Dewhurst Stakes, the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, the St James' Palace Stakes, the
QIPCO Sussex Stakes (2011 & 2012), the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
sponsored by QIPCO, the JLT Lockinge Stakes, the Queen Anne Stakes, the
Juddmonte International and the QIPCO Champion Stakes). He is rated the top
horse in the world and Cecil believes he is the best he has ever trained and
the best horse ever. As well as housing equine superstars, Warren Place was
also the haunt of champion jockeys, with Joe Mercer, Lester Piggott, Steve
Cauthen, Pat Eddery and later Kieren Fallon each doing their bit and enjoying
the spoils of the master trainer's meticulously-planned campaigns. Nowadays,
the talented young Irishman Tom Queally is the jockey proving his worth atop
Cecil-trained contenders. The record books do not lie and Cecil rewrote them
as he cultivated and nurtured a string of champions. He is a trainer of great
flair - a gifted horseman with an exceptional ability in assessing a horse,
and possesses a rare instinctive genius that enables him to appreciate
potential far earlier than most. He is also the focus of great fascination,
particularly among the media - a champion trainer with a penchant for
gardening and fine clothes. He has fought cancer over the last few years and
married Jane McKeown, his third wife, in 2008.
Tom
Queally
Tom Queally, born on October 8,
1984, has come a long way since riding his first winner on the John
Roche-trained Larifaari at Clonmel on April 13, 2000, when 15. He was crowned
Ireland's champion apprentice the same season. From Dungarvan in County
Waterford, where his father Declan combines farming with a small training
operation, Queally was out hunting on his pony by the age of seven. After a
spell showjumping, he was a leading figure on the pony racing circuit by the
age of 13 and was apprenticed to trainer Pat Flynn two years later. The
apprenticeship was terminated when Queally's parents insisted he finish his
leaving certificate at school. At the end of a quiet 2002, when apprenticed
to his father, he moved to Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle, winning the following
year's Group Three Ballysax Stakes on Balestrini. With the help of
owner/trainer Barney Curley, he moved to Britain in 2004 and joined David
Loder's Newmarket stable, becoming British champion apprentice that year. He
won the 2008 Group Three Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom aboard Lady
Gloria and is now attached to Sir Henry Cecil's Warren Place stable. Since
his move to Cecil's yard, he has recorded significant victories on Midday,
who finished runner-up in the 2009 Investec Oaks before going on to claim the
Group One Nassau Stakes at Goodwood (2009, 2010 and 2011), the Darley
Yorkshire Oaks (2010), Qatar Prix Vermeille (2010) and the Breeders' Cup
Filly & Mare Turf (2009). Twice Over has given him success in the
Emirates Airline Champion Stakes (2009 and 2010), and the Coral-Eclipse
Stakes (2010). Queally gained his first Group One success in Ireland when
Chachamaidee was awarded the 2012 Matron Stakes in the stewards' room after
she was hampered in the closing stages. In 2009, he also won two Group One
sprints, partnering the Michael Bell-trained Art Connoisseur in Royal Ascot's
Golden Jubilee Stakes (Queally's first top level win) and Fleeting Spirit,
trained by Jeremy Noseda, in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket. He has
partnered the world's highest-rated horse Frankel on all the colt's 14
appearances, including Group One wins in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (2010),
QIPCO 2,000 Guineas (2011), St James's Palace Stakes (2011), QIPCO Sussex
Stakes (2011 & 2012), Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO)
(2011), JLT Lockinge Stakes (2012), Queen Anne Stakes (2012), Juddmonte
International (2012) and QIPCO Champion Stakes.
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