Tribute to Bobby Frankel

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.

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