Frankel dynasty begins as first foal born
HE may be only days old, but he is already among the most valuable specimens in the horse racing world with an estimated value of around £6m.
The first foal sired by Frankel, considered the greatest of all time, was born at the weekend to Chrysanthemum, herself the offspring of champion sire Danehill Dancer, it was confirmed yesterday.
He is unlikely to race until the summer of 2016 but, were he to be sold, could be expected to fetch a price in excess of the record £5.25m paid in October for a one-year-old filly sired by Galileo, Frankel’s father.
“From reports that I’ve received, Frankel’s first foal is everything we could have hoped for,” said Philip Mitchell, general manager of owners Juddmonte Farms.
The colt, who is yet to be named and is thought to have been conceived on Valentine’s Day, is the first of hundreds of foals set to be born to Frankel, who won all 14 of his races and accrued £4m in prize money before being retired to stud in October 2012.
Frankel mated with 133 mares last year, of whom 132 fell pregnant. Six suffered early foetal deaths but the other 125 are due in the first half of this year.
Breeders pay £125,000 a time to mate their horses with Frankel on a no-foal, no-fee basis.
WHO’S THE MUMMY?
Six-year-old Chrysanthemum was the first mare scanned in foal to Frankel last year. This is her first offspring
She enjoyed two Group Three wins under trainer David Wachman
Her father is Danehill Dancer, who was 2009 champion sire – the stallion whose offspring won most prize money