Horse Racing

Goodwood racecourse, Sussex

Frankel, unbeaten in his first 11 races, defends the Sussex Stakes in the big race of the week today.

...

Only four runners now due to start.

It seems no-one wants to race against Frankel ... how disappointing, considering this will likely be his last season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/horse-racing/19059323

Given that the prizemoney for 2nd is £64,500, 3rd is £32,280, 4th is £16,080, 5th is £8,070 and 6th is £4,050, you would think that other milers would be entered.
Can't be bad in the stud book to be 3rd in a Grp1 beaten by possibly the best miler of this or any other generation.

One of the three horses Frankel is up against is a pacemaker from his own yard. I wonder if Frankel will "take it easy".

Frankel is a bit of a "beast". Wins with ease. He really hammers the ground with his front legs when he gets goings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YShC_A7ITds

Frankel,like many pundits have already stated,has nothing to prove over this mile trip,he is just in a different league.For him to go to the next level,if thats possible after all that hes done,he must prove himself over a different trip.The easy going mile and a quarter around York looks and sounds like the ideal stepping stone,if this is taken in as Frankels next outing then we also get to see him run against differing opposition,St Nicholas Abbey,Cirrus Des Aigles and Farhh are muted as possible foes,it all adds to the mix,gets the juices flowing again because lets be honest some of his races had cut up into pretty one sided affairs and you can only watch so many demolition jobs of the same contenders before it gets a tad tiresome.Can anything touch him over a longer trip? Theres always that niggling doubt but he looks and races like 10 will prove no problem and if the challengers do stand their ground then they like Frankel will want a proper pace to run at,the quicker they go the more Frankel will settle but if they dawdle then the 10 furlong trip becomes less of a stamina issue and more of a speed issue and who does that suit most? Probably Frankel.Its a double edged sword for all concerned.I think all racing fans would like to see a proper gallop on decent ground with a field that has a bit of depth to it,three or four genuiene Group one performers and not the almost group one or not better than group two challengers that hes been running over in his last couple of outings.
He is a great,no question,arguably the best for the last fifty years.if he can round his career off with a victory over this longer trip against real challengers then his place at the top table of equine immortality is guaranteed.

Frankel : Number ONE

Frankels last race will be the Champion Stakes at Ascot on 20 October - another mile and a quarter, missing the Arc which is run over a mile and a half.

Frankel's current winnings amount to £2.26 million. At stud he should earn about £100 million or more.

Answer me a question as I've been out of touch with British Racing for most of the past 35 years.

I see that Luca Cumani's yard suffered a serious fire but that employees and horses escaped unscathed.
Including "Mount Athos".
Now, I won a decent amount of money on an earlier Mount Athos about 40 years ago, a decent Group-level middle distance performer trained either by Gordon Smyth or John Dunlop.

What's the "statute of limitations" for re-using horses names, or at least those of some quality?

Hope it's a not longer than 30 years.........im hoping to run my new horse "Shergar" in Limerick next week!!!!

!!!!