Courtesy of Becky Johnston
Just wanted to remember Bobby
Frankel today and relive some of his greatest wins.
A filly he loved, Flute.
2001 Kentucky Oaks
Frankel did a masterful job of
handling Sightseek's career knowing her strengths and sticking with them.
2004 Ruffian Stakes
Then there is Megahertz, the
little package of dynamite would take off as if her fuse had been lit in the
stretch. She could overcome deficits
that seemed impossible.
2005 Santa Barbara
Frankel's first Breeders' Cup win
came in an unusual fashion for a trainer that schooled high class distance
runners.
2001 Breeders' Cup Sprint
The Golden Goose better known as
Juddmonte Farms' Toussaud.
1993 Gamely
Toussaud went on to produce Chester
House, Honest Lady, Chiseling, Decarchy and of course, Empire Maker.
Although the race broke the
collective heart of those who wanted to see a triple crown, this was a race of
redemption for Bobby Frankel who thought his colt should have won the Kentucky
Derby.
2003 Belmont Stakes
Another offspring of Toussaud is
Honest Lady. She ran such bang-up races
in the Met Mile and Breeders' Cup Sprint against the males, but she was much
the best against her own sex many times.
2000 A Glean Handicap
Frankel won six of nineteen
Pacific Classics. His first win came in
the second running with Missionary
Ridge followed later by two-time
winners Tinner's Way and Skimming. Here
is a favorite, Bertrando
1993 Pacific Classic
In 2002, Frankel took his own
filly to the winners' circle in a Breeders' Cup race with his daughter
Bethenney by his side in the winner's circle.
2002 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare
Turf
Frankel was involved in one of the
best races I have ever seen, the 2002 Test Stakes. Edmund Gann's You facing Frank Stronach's
Carson Hollow and it was a heart stopper at the wire.
2002 Test Stakes
The Stronach silks on Carson
Hollow were no stranger to Frankel's barn.
Here is champion Ginger Punch in
one of her most gutsy performances.
2008 Personal Ensign
Who could forget the brilliant
Ghostzapper?
2004 Breeders' Cup Classic
The trainer's true love for the
horse always came through and in his last wishes you would find no less. He asked for those who wish to donate to do
so through Old Friends Retirement Home, the Grayson Foundation, and CANTER, an
organization to find homes for retired horses.
If you ever cashed a ticket on a Frankel horse you ought to remember him
in this way. What a difference that
could make.
Thanks for the memories Robert J.
Frankel. If there is such a thing as
reunion in the afterlife, I sure hope Frankel is reunited with his much-loved
dog Happy the Australian Shepherd.
