Frankel: One of a Kind

Described by Timeform as a “strong, good-topped mare,” Frankel’s Irish-bred dam,  Kind (2001, by the high-class sprinter-miler Danehill), raced between two and four years old. Trained by Roger Charlton, Kind progressed into a useful three-year-old, winning five times in succession at five to seven furlongs (including the listed Flower of Scotland Stakes at Hamilton). Regarded as a “type to progress further still,” Kind duly obliged at four years, winning the listed six-furlong totesport Fillies’ Stakes (Kilvington) at Nottingham before finishing a good third behind crack sprinter, La Cucaracha, in the six-furlong Ballyogan Stakes at Leopardstown. Kind – who had a prominent racing style and displayed versatility on soft to firm going - disappointed in her last two starts before retiring to stud, but was ultimately rated as smart.

Kind’s racing record gave little indication as to her future superstar status as a broodmare, but as well as Timeform’s highest-rated Flat star, she foaled Frankel’s younger full brother, Noble Mission  (2009), a formerly “tricky customer” (almost always wore a hood) who developed into a high-class performer up to a mile-and-a-half. He ran in Britain, Ireland, Germany and France betweentwo and five years old and greatly improved once switched to more forceful tactics in his final year, winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh and only narrowly beaten by another son of Galileo, Spiritjim, in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, although he was later awarded the race. He bowed out in style in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, beating a field which included the previous year’s Derby winner, Ruler of The World, and was retired to stud at the prestigious Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky, USA, where he now stands for a fee of $25,000. Prior to the brothers, Kind had foaled their close relative, Bullet Train (2007, by Sadler’s Wells), a smart mile to eleven-and-a-half furlong performer who won the Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield and acted as a pacemaker for Frankel. A couple of useful sorts emerged to Oasis Dream after Noble Mission; Joyeuse (2011), who like her dam won six-furlong listed races at two and three, and Morpheus (2010), a hard-pulling mile winner who stayed nine furlongs.

After such a fine start as a broodmare, Kind experienced three abortions and a barren episodefrom matings to Galileo and Kingman between 2012 and 2016. Her only live foal during this period, the twice-raced Proconsul (2013, by Galileo), held some prestigious French Group One entries but never got close to that level, showing just fair form at best in mile-and-a-quarter maidens at three and has since been retired to stand alongside Captain Gerrard, Heeraat and Yorgunnabelucky at Mickley Stud in Shropshire. At his current £3,500 fee, Proconsul offers breeders an affordable opportunity to have a tilt at a proven breeding cross.

Kind’s dam, the British-bred Rainbow Lake (1990, by the top-class mile-and-a-half performer Rainbow Quest), was a remarkably good racer on her day and plied her trade at substantially further than her daughter. A “leggy, unfurnished filly” who had just six starts at three, she scored a hat-trick in a maiden, a mile-and-a-quarter listed race at Newbury and the Lancashire Oaks, quickening away to beat a useful field in “devastating style” (the first and last-named were both mile-and-a-half events at Haydock). In Timeform’s words, “We'll be most surprised if she hasn't stamped herself one of the best mile-and-a-half fillies of her generation.” Surprise was to come, though, for as clearly capable as she was, Rainbow Lake disappointed in her next (and final) two outings, which included the Yorkshire Oaks. Classed as smart at her optimum distance (it was felt that she could have stayed further), she also acted on both extremes of going. Rainbow Lake produced the high-class Powerscourt  (by Sadler’s Wells), a well-travelled sort, typically effective at a mile-and-a-quarter to a mile-and-three-quarters and who won the Tattersalls Gold Cup and Arlington Million (after having been demoted from first place the previous year), the Ribblesdale Stakes winner Riposte, who later won and placed in graded races in the US, and the smart French performer up to 15.5f Last Train, to the cover of Dansili and Rail Link, respectively.

Frankel’s third dam Rockfest (1979) was foaled in Kentucky and hailed from the grand old bloodline of St Simon, via her American sire, the Belmont Stakes winner Stage Door Johnny. A “strong, well-made, attractive filly,” she proved to be a useful two-year-old and from only six British starts won at seven furlongs and a mile and placed in the others. Not quite so good the following year, she nevertheless finished second in the mile-and-a-half Oaks Trial at Lingfield and was considered “very genuine.” At stud she foaled numerous winners, including Rock Falcon (1993, by Polar Falcon), auseful seven furlong to one mile winner who also won over hurdles but was a thorough rogue, refusing to race on several occasions across both disciplines.

As a footnote to Frankel’s dams, Rockfest’s dam the British-bred  Rock Garden II (1970, by Roan Rocket) raced at two and three years of age. From her twelve career starts she won a mile maiden (the furthest she tackled) at three and placed a total of seven times. A “shapely filly,” she acted on any going and is mentioned here primarily for the fact she represents the rarer Godolphin Arabian male bloodline through the legendary American racer and sire, Man O’ War, and is therefore an interesting outcross in the fourth generation of a modern British champion’s pedigree.