As promised I've been through our photos from yesterday and will now post the best of the bunch. All credit for the photos must go to my husband, who is a far better photographer than me! We had to choose our spot carefully, it was obvious that the parade ring was going to be packed so we decided to head to the pre-parade ring at about 2.50pm and secure a good position. First into the pre-parade ring were WINDSOR PALACE and EXCELEBRATION (You'll need to click on the photos to see them full size)
By this stage people were 4 deep around the pre-parade ring. And then, the moment we had all been waiting for: FRANKEL, led in by his half-brother BULLET TRAIN FRANKEL looked unreal. His frame had filled out and he looked every inch the champion.
The upload is slow this morning, so sorry about the time delay between posts! Anyway, some more of BULLET TRAIN and FRANKEL
Wow what a specimen he is, all muscle. Amazingly (maybe not) similar to Bullet Train, he is a slightly bigger/musclier version. Great pics PN, thanks for sharing them with us.
Still, more: We then decided that there was no point in trying to get a position at the Parade Ring, so we headed to the walkway to try and get a few final pre-race shots.
Nearly done! Going to post I know it's blurry, but Frankel as he reaches the finish line can't be missed out!
Nice work Princess. I hope you enjoyed the day. I should imagine that it will live long in your memory.
I've got several photos of FRANKEL dating back to his run in the Dewhurst in October 2010, it is interesting to compare the changes in him. Sadly the Dewhurst photos are not greatas they were taken on my phone! Dewhurst
Great photos PN! I can actually see myself in one of your photos of Bullet Train (blonde girl in the red jacket). What an experience yesterday was. I was so nervous for Frankel, as the one time I went to see Kauto was the 2010 King George and of course he lost, so I felt like I jinxed him. No such worries yesterday!
Nice pics Princess. Thank you. Glad you had a great day. Fantastic roar as he moved up effortlessly to take command. It was all over and ended in a procession.
I knew digital photography had some good reason for the massive price tag. Those of us using good old-fashioned 35mm film cannot post instant results. When I saw the declarations for Newbury on Saturday, I did not realise that the hour gap between the Lockinge and the sixth race was to accommodate a Pure Arabian Ladies World Championship. I thought they were assuming that Frankel was going to win and were allowing for a substantial period of adulation. Having bought a fixed train ticket a few weeks ago, I had to miss the last race so the winner will probably turn out to be decent. Before the Lockinge, a PA announcement was made telling the crowd not to use flash photography as it was dangerous to the horses. Clearly this line of logic had eluded the numbskull at QIPCO who had come up with the fantastic idea of handing out flags in Khalid Abdulla’s colours for all the kids to wave at Frankel. Annoyingly some of the grown-ups along the rail did the same during the race. Fortunately, Frankel did not seem to be too bothered about it. After the race, Frankel went on a lap of the Parade Ring but did not complete the lap to the exit where the other horses had gone, disappointing the large number of people waiting with their cameras – including me! However, I should have some decent shots from before that. Newbury is another course where the only way to stand at the winning post is to pay the extra for the Premier Enclosure. Those of us that paid the £20 for the normal Grandstand Enclosure were a hundred yards from the line, which made little difference as most of the races were not close finishes and the Lockinge pictures only have one horse in them for the last furlong. Given the ordinary nature of the supporting card, I am assuming that the £3 more than each day at York’s Dante Festival would have cost at the turnstiles was for the piece of string to hang the ticket on. Or was this cashing in on the Frankel factor? Somehow, I managed to resist the temptation of the £7.50 gourmet burger and fries. The only pictures I have of Frankel racing with any other horses in them were from the 2000 Guineas, when I was looking down the track!
Bloody pisswits at racinguk have had my video removed from youtube! It was 30 seconds of bullet train and frankel walking past in the paddock. Arseholes.
Cos you get a notification email saying who removed it and why. Infringement of copyright. I've tweeted to ask why cos it seems heavy handed to say the least. Have had no response.
