Frankel Facts
Things you might not know about Frankel
- His stable name at Banstead Manor Stud is 'Bobby'.
- He likes to hold his tongue between his teeth when relaxed.
- He likes to chase pheasants and geese out of his paddock at Banstead Manor Stud.
- He dislikes cubes in his coarse mix.
- He is walked in hand seven miles a day around Banstead Manor Stud to keep fit for his work as a stallion.
- He was foaled on 11th February 2008 at 11:40pm, weighing in at 123lb.
- “Quality colt, tall with size and scope. Strong hind legs. Very good foal,” was Banstead Manor Stud manager Simon Mockridge’s assessment of the newborn Frankel.
- His height is 165cm, or 16.1hh.
- His shoe size is 7.5 inches in front and 7 inches behind.
- He went into training with Sir Henry Cecil on 14th January 2010.
- His starting price on his debut was 7-4, the only time he has ever been priced odds-against.
- His official rating of 140 is the highest since the World Thoroughbred Rankings records began in 1977.
- His Racing Post rating of 143 is the highest recorded.
- His Timeform rating of 147 is the highest in Timeform's history. It puts him ahead of the likes of Sea Bird II (born 1962, rated 145), Brigadier Gerard (born 1968, rated 144) and Tudor Minstrel (born 1944, rated 144).
- His cumulative winning distance was 76¼ lengths. His average winning distance was 5.4 lengths.
- Frankel’s unbeaten winning sequence of 14 races is the longest seen in Europe since Ribot (born 1952).
- He was the first ever equine recipient of the President’s Award at the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association Awards 2011.
- Some Newmarket gallopwatchers reported that Frankel outpaced the Cambridge to Newmarket train during one of his workouts in March 2011.
- Frankel's victory in the 2000 Guineas marked the 25th Classic success for his trainer, Sir Henry Cecil.
- Frankel’s amazing victory in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on 19 June 2012 provided his owner Prince Khalid Abdullah with his 100th Group 1 victory in Europe.
- In winning the Queen Anne Stakes, Frankel produced split times faster than any fraction clocked by any runner in the 5f King’s Stand Stakes Gr.1, run 35 minutes later.
- He is the first horse in history to win the Sussex Stakes Gr.1 at Goodwood twice.
- After winning the Juddmonte International Stakes Gr.1 at York in his first race over 10 furlongs, Frankel surpassed the record for consecutive wins in European Group 1 races set by Rock Of Gibraltar ten years ago.
- After winning the Champion Stakes Gr.1 at Ascot, Frankel equalled the world record for consecutive Group 1 wins (nine in a row). He retired the winner of 10 Group 1 races in total.
- The 'Frankel factor' saw a record first day attendance at the Ebor Festival on 22 August 2012, when a total of 30,163 racegoers turned up to see Frankel in the Juddmonte International - 55% more people than on the same day in 2011. The attendance eclipsed the previous best for an opening day of the festival back in 1989, when just over 23,000 racegoers were present.
- Frankel is the first horse in history to run to an official rating of 140 twice (which he did in the 8f Queen Anne Stakes Gr.1 at Royal Ascot and the 10f Juddmonte International Gr.1 at York).
- Frankel's first race - a maiden at Newmarket on 13th August 2010 - also contained the Coral Eclipse Gr.1 winner Nathaniel and this year's Ascot Gold Cup Gr.1 winner Colour Vision.
- Frankel is the first horse for more than 60 years to be a champion at two, three and four years of age, and only the fourth in 100 years (the others are Tetratema, Fairway and Abernant).
- Frankel is the only horse to have been crowned Cartier Horse Of The Year for two successive years (2011 and 2012), and only the second horse to win the accolade more than once (Ouija Board - in 2004 and 2006 - is the other).
- Frankel has now been retired to stand at a stallion for Juddmonte Farms at Banstead Manor Stud, the farm where he was born.
- Frankel's first book of mares includes over 60 that have won a Group 1 race, produced a Group 1 winner, or both.
- Frankel's first foal was born at 8.30pm on 11th January 2014 - a bay colt out of the dual Group 3 winning mare Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum was the first mare scanned in foal to Frankel in 2013. Her foal was born on the same day as Frankel's late trainer Sir Henry Cecil's birthday.
- In August 2014, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) awarded Frankel the accolade of 'Ambassador' in recognition of the funds and awareness he has generated for the charity. Frankel joined fellow Ambassadors, musician Ed Sheeran, celebrity chef Delia Smith and author Anthony Horowitz.
- Frankel as a foal (photograph taken on 24th July 2008
