Features
The Potential Champions Eclipsed By Frankel
Frankel is already the most highly rated racehorse of the 21st century and on QIPCO British Champions Day (20th October, Ascot Racecourse), he could become the greatest racehorse of all time. However, it’s not just the bookies who’ve taken a battering from his unbeaten record of 13 straight wins.
Here are the winners that would have been if Frankel had never been foaled:
· Black Caviar, the Australian super sprinter, would have been crowned champion in 2011. According to BHA handicapper, Dominic Gardiner-Hill, the unbeaten Aussie mare would have been hailed the world’s best.
· Dream Ahead would have been outright Champion Two Year Old of 2010.
· Danedream would have been Champion Three Year Old of 2011.
· Godolphin would have become Champion Owner in 2011, replacing Prince Khalid Abdulla with a prize fund in excess of £2.8 million.
· Canford Cliffs, trained by Richard Hannon, would have been World Champion Miler of 2011.
· Excelebration, Frankel’s old sparring partner, would have collected five Group 1 races instead of two, and would now be in line for the 2012 World Champion Miler crown.
· Farhh, who has finished runner-up in Group One contests in his last four starts but has never won at the highest level of Flat racing, would have won two of them – the QIPCO Sussex Stakes and Juddmonte International.
· Dubawi Gold would have given Richard Hannon his fourth 2000 Guineas, and Richard Hughes and Andrew Tinkler their first British Classics.
· Cirrus Des Aigles would be the highest rated horse of 2012, with Nathaniel, Monterosso and I’ll Have Another in joint second place (based on current ratings).
· Richard Hannon would have extended his lead in the 2011 Trainers’ Championship, with prize money in excess of £4 million.
· Marco Botti, Excelebration’s trainer in 2011, would have finished 11th in the Championship table last year, instead of 25th.
· Exceed And Excel, Excelebration’s sire, would have had a top four finish in the Champion Sire table for 2011, instead of languishing in seventh.
And spare a thought for Tom Queally. He would have missed out on a ton of winners in both 2010 and 2011 had he not been riding Frankel, missing out on an eye-watering win bonus of £169,000.
But the biggest losers of all have to British bookmakers. According to David Williams of Ladbrokes, “Frankel fans shouldn’t look to us if they want funding for memorials to Frankel. We fondly remember life before Frankel as days of milk and honey. The past three seasons have seen us reduced to bread and water as legions of his fans have taken every opportunity to load their wallets.
“As flat horses with punter appeal go, we’ve not known his like before. No prices have been too short for punters and each time he’s run we’ve assured ourselves that the damage wouldn’t be too bad, we’ve been proven wrong. They rightly consider the Bank of Frankel to be a whole lot safer than the High Street equivalents.”
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