From The Sunday Times, 10/02/2013
By David Walsh
In early November Simon Mockridge travelled in the cab of a horsebox from Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket to a training yard in the town, Warren Place.
This yard has for more than 35 years been the workplace for Britainâs most successful trainer, the 10-time champion Sir Henry Cecil, and Mockridge had arrived to take the great racehorse Frankel back to the farm where he was born and where for the rest of his life he will have the opportunity to create a new generation of champions.
There is a lot riding on Frankelâs career as a sire but this morning at Warren Place, it isnât just business. Racing is full of people who love horses. Relationships are formed. The animal can become their groomâs best friend, the reason they get up in the morning. That Thursday pretty much every member of Cecilâs team gathered round to see Frankel off as he was led from his box to the lorry.
âI felt terrible,â said Mock-ridge, who is stud manager at Banstead Manor. âI told them I felt like a child-snatcher but I didnât look around too much because there were a lot of tears. They had this God of a horse whoâd been with them for three years and a number of people had become emotionally attached to him.
âThe curious thing is that it all happened so quickly; one minute he was there, at the centre of everyoneâs world, and then he was taken away.â
At Banstead Manor they talk about Frankelâs first days back at the farm where he was born. Cecil warned Mockridge he wouldnât like it at first and he didnât.
At Warren Place, Frankel might not have been God but he was treated as if he was; first to be fed, first to be groomed and given the little perks that the greatest racehorse on the planet deserved. He liked it there, his box, the familiar faces and voices, the 20lb of corn he received each day, and he didnât see any need for change.
âFor two days he was very upset,â said Mockridge, and he took it out on the box a little bit, he kicked out, he charged the door. Then after two days here he just stopped.
âHeâs intelligent. He takes everything in, he realised creating a fuss wasnât helping him and decided, âThis is what you want me to do, this is what I will doâ. Heâs a very quick learner.â
At his new home were two horses, Oasis Dream and Dansili, who have already proven themselves to be excep¬tional sires and Frankel could not just turn up and be boss. So when Rob Bowley brought buckets of food for Oasis Dream and Frankel on that first morning and Frankel let it be known that he was used to being served first, Rob told him to calm down and wait.
Placing Frankelâs bucket outside his stable door, Bowley brought another bucket into Oasis Dreamâs box and fed him first. Then Frankel got his food and though he didnât think much of this new order, he adapted.
What they loved about Frankel at Banstead Manor is that after two days he stopped moaning and got on with it.
The world of international bloodstock is at once highly sophisticated and wonderfully practical.
Every owner of a high class broodmare wants to choose the stallion that best suits his mare; weeks and months can be spent deciding on the right sire. Stud farms with prized stallions try to target the best mares because a sire can only be as good as the mares he covers.
So they pore over potential matings, trying to find in the stallion the one attribute their mare lacks. A forensic understanding of blood lines is needed but the rewards for getting it right are immense.
Hand in hand with the science is pragmatism. Horse trading is not an expression but a way of life. So, for example, when owner Prince Khalid Abdullah wanted to send some of his finest mares to visit the supremely successful sire Sadlerâs Wells at Coolmore stud in County Tipperary almost 20 years ago, rather than pay huge stud fees, the prince agreed a foal share agreement with John Magnier, owner of Cool-more.
This meant 10 mares would be sent from Abdullahâs Juddmonte Farms to be covered by Sadlerâs Wells but rather than pay £200,000 for each mare, Juddmonte would share the foals with Coolmore.
Each party would independ¬ently grade the 10 foals and then, on an alternate picks basis, select their five. It meant that Coolmore had access to some of Juddmonteâs best mares and Juddmonte could get Sadlerâs Wells stock without having to pay the costly nomination fee.
In 2006, Sadlerâs Wells became ill and Juddmonte agreed to switch their mares to the two next best stallions on the Coolmore roster, Galileo and Montjeu, both sons of Sadlerâs Wells.
âKind was one of the mares in that batch sent over in 2006,â said Philip Mitchell, general manager at Banstead Manor, âand if Iâm honest, she would probably never have visited Galileo unless she was part of that package.
âI mean, she fitted everything that was right, she was a strong mare, she had speed, she was very well bred (by Danehill out of a Rainbow Quest mare), and had all the ingredients to make a good match with Galileo.
âBut if youâd had to pay the full nomination, I donât think we would have sent her to Galileo, we probably wouldnât have pitched her at that level at that stage.â
In 2008, Kind delivered her Galileo foal and soon the newly-born colt was impressing everyone at Banstead Manor.
âAs a foal he lust did every¬thing right,â said Mitchell. âI sent a report to Prince Khalid, as did Rory Mahon who, in Ireland, would nurture and break him in.
âTeddy Grimthorpe (Khalid Abdullahâs racing manager) would have had a good look and we all listed him as number one from the group of 10. And we breathed a sigh of relief that it was our year to have first choice.â
Coolmore lost Frankel on the luck of the draw, but picked up a consolation prize. âPart of our deal with Coolmore,â said Mitchell, âwas that if one party got a really good horse, the one to lose out would be entitled to 10 breeding rights.
âThat seemed only fair. I mean if Coolmore had got Frankel and we didnât have any part of Frankel, we would be feeling slightly aggrieved. Both parties agreed this was a decent way to go about it.â
At his current nomination fee of £125,000, this consolation prize is worth £1.25m per year to Coolmore.
Banstead Manor is a state-of-the-art stud farm where the stallions live in stables big enough to accommodate three horses, eat food that is the finest available and are taken for a seven-mile walk each morning. They are treated royally because they are the hub of the stud farm, around whom everything else turns, without whom the operation doesnât work.
Cont...
By David Walsh
In early November Simon Mockridge travelled in the cab of a horsebox from Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket to a training yard in the town, Warren Place.
This yard has for more than 35 years been the workplace for Britainâs most successful trainer, the 10-time champion Sir Henry Cecil, and Mockridge had arrived to take the great racehorse Frankel back to the farm where he was born and where for the rest of his life he will have the opportunity to create a new generation of champions.
There is a lot riding on Frankelâs career as a sire but this morning at Warren Place, it isnât just business. Racing is full of people who love horses. Relationships are formed. The animal can become their groomâs best friend, the reason they get up in the morning. That Thursday pretty much every member of Cecilâs team gathered round to see Frankel off as he was led from his box to the lorry.
âI felt terrible,â said Mock-ridge, who is stud manager at Banstead Manor. âI told them I felt like a child-snatcher but I didnât look around too much because there were a lot of tears. They had this God of a horse whoâd been with them for three years and a number of people had become emotionally attached to him.
âThe curious thing is that it all happened so quickly; one minute he was there, at the centre of everyoneâs world, and then he was taken away.â
At Banstead Manor they talk about Frankelâs first days back at the farm where he was born. Cecil warned Mockridge he wouldnât like it at first and he didnât.
At Warren Place, Frankel might not have been God but he was treated as if he was; first to be fed, first to be groomed and given the little perks that the greatest racehorse on the planet deserved. He liked it there, his box, the familiar faces and voices, the 20lb of corn he received each day, and he didnât see any need for change.
âFor two days he was very upset,â said Mockridge, and he took it out on the box a little bit, he kicked out, he charged the door. Then after two days here he just stopped.
âHeâs intelligent. He takes everything in, he realised creating a fuss wasnât helping him and decided, âThis is what you want me to do, this is what I will doâ. Heâs a very quick learner.â
At his new home were two horses, Oasis Dream and Dansili, who have already proven themselves to be excep¬tional sires and Frankel could not just turn up and be boss. So when Rob Bowley brought buckets of food for Oasis Dream and Frankel on that first morning and Frankel let it be known that he was used to being served first, Rob told him to calm down and wait.
Placing Frankelâs bucket outside his stable door, Bowley brought another bucket into Oasis Dreamâs box and fed him first. Then Frankel got his food and though he didnât think much of this new order, he adapted.
What they loved about Frankel at Banstead Manor is that after two days he stopped moaning and got on with it.
The world of international bloodstock is at once highly sophisticated and wonderfully practical.
Every owner of a high class broodmare wants to choose the stallion that best suits his mare; weeks and months can be spent deciding on the right sire. Stud farms with prized stallions try to target the best mares because a sire can only be as good as the mares he covers.
So they pore over potential matings, trying to find in the stallion the one attribute their mare lacks. A forensic understanding of blood lines is needed but the rewards for getting it right are immense.
Hand in hand with the science is pragmatism. Horse trading is not an expression but a way of life. So, for example, when owner Prince Khalid Abdullah wanted to send some of his finest mares to visit the supremely successful sire Sadlerâs Wells at Coolmore stud in County Tipperary almost 20 years ago, rather than pay huge stud fees, the prince agreed a foal share agreement with John Magnier, owner of Cool-more.
This meant 10 mares would be sent from Abdullahâs Juddmonte Farms to be covered by Sadlerâs Wells but rather than pay £200,000 for each mare, Juddmonte would share the foals with Coolmore.
Each party would independ¬ently grade the 10 foals and then, on an alternate picks basis, select their five. It meant that Coolmore had access to some of Juddmonteâs best mares and Juddmonte could get Sadlerâs Wells stock without having to pay the costly nomination fee.
In 2006, Sadlerâs Wells became ill and Juddmonte agreed to switch their mares to the two next best stallions on the Coolmore roster, Galileo and Montjeu, both sons of Sadlerâs Wells.
âKind was one of the mares in that batch sent over in 2006,â said Philip Mitchell, general manager at Banstead Manor, âand if Iâm honest, she would probably never have visited Galileo unless she was part of that package.
âI mean, she fitted everything that was right, she was a strong mare, she had speed, she was very well bred (by Danehill out of a Rainbow Quest mare), and had all the ingredients to make a good match with Galileo.
âBut if youâd had to pay the full nomination, I donât think we would have sent her to Galileo, we probably wouldnât have pitched her at that level at that stage.â
In 2008, Kind delivered her Galileo foal and soon the newly-born colt was impressing everyone at Banstead Manor.
âAs a foal he lust did every¬thing right,â said Mitchell. âI sent a report to Prince Khalid, as did Rory Mahon who, in Ireland, would nurture and break him in.
âTeddy Grimthorpe (Khalid Abdullahâs racing manager) would have had a good look and we all listed him as number one from the group of 10. And we breathed a sigh of relief that it was our year to have first choice.â
Coolmore lost Frankel on the luck of the draw, but picked up a consolation prize. âPart of our deal with Coolmore,â said Mitchell, âwas that if one party got a really good horse, the one to lose out would be entitled to 10 breeding rights.
âThat seemed only fair. I mean if Coolmore had got Frankel and we didnât have any part of Frankel, we would be feeling slightly aggrieved. Both parties agreed this was a decent way to go about it.â
At his current nomination fee of £125,000, this consolation prize is worth £1.25m per year to Coolmore.
Banstead Manor is a state-of-the-art stud farm where the stallions live in stables big enough to accommodate three horses, eat food that is the finest available and are taken for a seven-mile walk each morning. They are treated royally because they are the hub of the stud farm, around whom everything else turns, without whom the operation doesnât work.
Cont...
