Frankel

[Calzone Lord]

I'm looking back through Frankel's past races -- and in the recent ones -- I can't find another race on the same day and at the same distance until June 14th of last year in the St. James's Palace at Royal Ascot.

This, however, was Frankel on his absolute worst day.

Frankel won by 3/4 of a length over Zoffany in 1:39.24

On that exact same card, Canford Cliffs won by one length over Goldikova in 1:38.38

Frankel went 0.86 slower. The past performances of 2nd place finisher Zoffany cements the fact that the older horses were faster on that day.



It's a shame that the only day I can find a good comparison to attempt an American style speed figure for Frankel -- was the one day he didn't bring his best stuff.

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

I'm looking back through Frankel's past races -- and in the recent ones -- I can't find another race on the same day and at the same distance until June 14th of last year in the St. James's Palace at Royal Ascot.

This, however, was Frankel on his absolute worst day.

Frankel won by 3/4 of a length over Zoffany in 1:39.24

On that exact same card, Canford Cliffs won by one length over Goldikova in 1:38.38

Frankel went 0.86 slower. The past performances of 2nd place finisher Zoffany cements the fact that the older horses were faster on that day.



It's a shame that the only day I can find a good comparison to attempt an American style speed figure for Frankel -- was the one day he didn't bring his best stuff.

Was this the race everyone criticized the ride for putting Frankel in a drive halfway through the race? What was Frankel's time form rating going into todays race? I keep hearing on the broadcast that he is the highest ranked horse in the world...

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

Was this the race everyone criticized the ride for putting Frankel in a drive halfway through the race?

Yes. Whoever was riding Frankel that day must have been studying Ronnie Franklin's Belmont.

Here is the video of Frankel holding on for dear life to win:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLmu_pHF0sA


He caught a break that the race was only a mile and that Zoffany was no world-beater.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

What was Frankel's time form rating going into todays race? I keep hearing on the broadcast that he is the highest ranked horse in the world...

http://www.timeform.com/display_arti...l_Rankings.asp

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

http://www.timeform.com/display_arti...l_Rankings.asp

Thanks.. Only rated 2lbs below all time high ranked Sea Bird. Imagine if he was a classic winner over a mile. He might be considered the greatest ranked horse of all time..

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

Thanks.. Only rated 2lbs below all time high ranked Sea Bird. Imagine if he was a classic winner over a mile. He might be considered the greatest ranked horse of all time..

I've always been a little skeptical of those Timeform ratings.

They aren't true American style speed figures and the way racing is in Europe makes them very subjective.

Of all the Euro horses I looked at -- Harbinger is BY FAR the fastest I've seen on a day when everything was clean and an American style number could be made. Sea The Stars was an undefeated Arc winner ... but he had some clean days to ... and was never anywhere close to Harbinger's clean race. Timeform had them both at 140 (Sea The Stars had a monster reputation and Harbinger came from out of nowhere at age 4 and never ran again after his masterpiece. He was injured in his very next workout)

[Calzone Lord]

147 Timeform for Frankel.

He's now the highest rated horse in the 60+ year history of Timeform by 2 full pounds.

[Calzone Lord]

Frankel went 2.29 seconds (or about 13.5 lengths and about 25 Beyer points) faster than Group 1 3-year-olds did at the same distance in the St James's Palace Stakes at the same distance today.

I made the Harbinger number as conservative as humanly possible to keep it no higher than a figure of 125.

I think Frankel's performance today was conservatively in the 120-to-125 range.

Easily the 2nd fastest turf race I've ever did a projection for -- trailing only Harbinger's win in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo7pEsp2WKc )