I have already booked my champions day tickets but god i hope he goes for the Arc. I mean I'd love to see him but it would be another procession. What's the point in that?
Thanks for the videos. From what I understand the Arc is not off the table, but is pretty near being pushed off it! One thing is for sure, it is Arc or Champion, not both.
Wont run in the Arc anyway,that is unless Frankel wakes up one morning and tells SHC he wants to. Be nice to see him go for it but he wouldnt win it anyway in my opinion.
The horse loves Ascot, the Prince loves Ascot and Sir Henry loves Ascot. I'm sure an Arc would be tempting but equally I suspect that emotions and nostalgia may lead them to the Champion Stakes. Anyway, Ascot, whilst not by any means a foregone conclusion would surely represent the safer option and I wouldn't blame them for that. Let's be fair - nobody really wants to see him beaten do they?
No, but a challenging race against the best 12f turf horses in the world might not be bad thing.Im sure SHC wouldnt mind an ARC considering he hasnt won the greatest turf race in the world.Sadly due to his illness i doubt he will ever get a better chance.
Win the Arc, keep him on at 5 and next season win the Eclipse, KG, and a BC. Abdullah and Cecil won't have a one like this again and they are not young guys anymore, go for it. What is the £££ to these guys. We can all dream hey.
Its not about the money youngster.Imagine him breaking down next year and depriving the world of his progeny. .No i think one final swansong is enough.Hope its the ARC.
I'm praying it's the Arc. Trouble is, I'm not exactly religious, so I doubt he that matters is listening
In that case Dan, if he turns up here for the Arc, we will meet up with you and buy you a drink or two.
I said the same thing when Sea The Stars was retired: can you imagine the pressure of handling a horse like Frankel? Every individual involved with him knows the slightest thing could go wrong - his lad might accidentally knock him when mucking out; his work rider might mess up a vital piece of work; his trainer might fail to get him fit in time, etc etc. We all know deep down, that if he belonged to any one of us we would want to wrap him in cotton wool!
If the ground were decent i do not think you would see any significant bets against him. I think it would go down as the least punted on Arc for many a year as the Bookies would not offer any reasonable odds against Frankel so perhaps 1-4 to 1-6 which would put most off with the new distance and travelling to France, but no one would bet against him for fear of him running away from them again. I could not see him being beat as although i was away last week i did manage to see the race and if that was any other horse no one would even consider that the horse they were watching would not stay an extra two furlongs the way he travelled and ran away from proven horses.
Agreed. He was just "jogging" for 7-8f before saying goodbye. I don't think he would have any trouble ""jogging" another 2f before doing exactly the same.
The only problem with the Arc is the draw and the possible traffic problems. Ability-wise he is stone wall the best horse in the world by an absolute stratosphere and with a good sit and relaxed rhythm would gallop away from them like the true champion he is. Longchamp is not a testing track and the only concern would be soft ground. He will undoubtedly stay a mile and a half. Nathaniel is probably the only horse who could pose him problems because he gallops every inch of the way and he would make Frankel answer the stamina questions. I think he would answer them quite emphatically though. It is a shame that So You Think and Camelot have not given him the chance to measure just how good he is.
I’m firmly of the opinion that Frankel has to conclude his glorious, and I do mean glorious, career in the Arc. Anything else will be seen as a major weakness and I’m afraid could lead to him being remembered as the horse who went for the easy option rather than the old battle. As lets face it compared to the Arc the Champion Stakes is, in harsh reality, a nothing contest. The Arc is only just over 1.5 furlongs further than the International and as Frankel coped with that distance effortlessly I don’t think connections can use stamina as a reason for going to Ascot whilst I really hope they won’t hide behind the frankly absurd line of ‘the horse will tell us where to go’. A win in the Arc, Europe’s premier race, will see the horse elavated to superstar status and the sort of perch that no other animal has achieved certainly in my lifetime. A victory in the Champion Stakes in comparison will, at best, simply confirm what he has already achieved and be of very little benefit.
