Frankel

Unless it's time to cover the Triple Crown series of races, there is scant newspaper attention paid to horse racing. I always look, and occasionally there are a few paragraphs about something: a famous horse died, or a jockey or trainer's milestone achievement. And then sometimes we hear about how many times a male horse, a stud, has being doing it to matched mares.

This is called breeding, and never makes the cover of People, or US magazine. Male thoroughbreds that are considered worthy enough to have their progeny attempt to reach the races are bred to mares that are sent to them for just that purpose: breeding, or covering a mare.

The male horses that have done well on the track, dirt or turf, are the most sought after for this post-competitive activity. And the better they did, judged by the competitive level and distance of the races they've won, the more demand they are to become sires.

Frankel, is one such sire. He finished his career, all in Europe, undefeated in 14 races, the longest not being much more than a mile, but at a high level of competition. He was an impressive runner.

So, it goes his demand to be a sire is great. And so is the price for him to 'cover' those mares they've lined up for him. The story is brief, a mere two paragraphs, but using it as a mathematical word problem some stunning numbers are thrown off.

After an illustrious unbeaten career on the track, Frankel has fathered his first foal...

Frankel was retired to stud in October 2012 after winning all 14 of his races. He mated with 133 mares from February to June last year at $200,000 each.

This is a whopping stud fee amount. But not the highest I've seen. Storm Cat used to breed for $500,000 a pop, until he lost his pop. He was 20 years old when he passed away in 2013. That was news as well.

But think of the story as a word problem. $200,000 at 133 matings is $26.6 million. For one year. He's not dead yet. He's getting ready to be back at it very soon.

And then there's the time frame, February to June. In North American, those are the breeding months because birthdays for foals are all considered to be January 1st. Thus, Frankel's first foal, so far un-named from a mare named Chrysanthemum, is considered to be 1 in 2014. He'll be 2 automatically on January 1, 2015. And so will any horse born in North American in 2014. Thus, the breeding months are geared to try and yield births fairly early in the year, given a mare's gestation period of 11 months.

Part two. Add up the number of days in the months of February through June and you get 150 days. One hundred thirty-three covers over a 150 day period. At least he got some days off.

The good news for Frankel is that he gets to stay where he is, where he's 'standing.' In this case, I supect it's in Ireland where Coolmore Stud is located. All the comforts of home. No more road trips.

And of course, mention the name Frankel and I can tell you it comes from the owners honoring the now deceased great Hall-of-Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.  Bethany Frankel, from one of those shows is his daughter.

Bobby grew up in Brooklyn and at Aqueduct race track, where he came an assistant trainer to Buddy (Howard) Jacobson. Jacobson trained 'claimers,' those relatively cheaper horses that can be publically claimed with the right approval. In those days, there were a lot of claiming races on the New York circuit, so many, that when Buddy Jacobson lead a horseman's strike against the New York Racing Association that suspended racing, the newspapers pointed out the sales tax the city and state was losing because horses weren't being claimed during the strike.

This did not make Mr. Jacobson a favorite of the blue-blooded New York Racing Association. He eventually disintegrated into drug use and homicide, dying in prison of AIDS. His son, David Jacobson, after some sketchy patches, has turned into a top New York based trainer, winning a training title with an astounding 160 wins for 2014. You are wise to take notice of his entries.

Bobby headed west, and honed his craft at the West Coast tracks, and became a top trainer of good, and very good horses. If Bobby Frankel entered a horse in a New York race you were smart to at least take notice of his intentions to win, because he often did.

Eventually, Frankel found his way back to New York, training and racing horses for top Arab stables. It was one of the Sheiks that owned Frankel.

Frankel is a common name. My guess is you'd find plenty of Frankels in a Manhattan phone book. But in horse racing there are only a few, and they all mean winning.

All that from a two paragraph piece.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com