The Lane's End Weekender Pedigree: Frankel's First Mares
In Lingerie, the first mare to sell in foal to Frankel, brought a bid of $2.4 million from Japan's Shadai Farrm
There is a shadow looming from the east. It is the beast who vanquished all his rivals and put fear in the hearts of their connections. It is Frankel.
The European Horse of the Year was one of the most electrifying racehorses in history. Timeform ranked him the best ever in its coverage, which extends back into the 1940s and encompasses such great horses as Tudor Minstrel, Ribot, and Sea-Bird. And over three seasons of competition and 14 races, Frankel was never beaten.
Now the mares from Frankel’s first season at stud are coming on the market in foal to him, and the first ones stepped into the ring at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s November sale.
At the Fasig sale on Monday afternoon, there were two mares in foal to Frankel, then more to come at Keeneland November, which begins the following day.
Frankel never raced in North America, and as a result, the average racing fan may not appreciate the anticipation and near-adulation that the top-class son of Galileo generated among professionals, as well as among the wider racing public, in Europe.
He is seen as a transformational animal, a horse of utterly exceptional ability, and as a result, the mares in foal to him, then the first foals and yearlings by the great racer, are highly anticipated. The supply of mares and young stock by Frankel (when they are born next year) is not anticipated to be large because a sizable portion will be held by breeders who do not take their horses to market.
As a result, we are likely to see a demand for mares in foal to Frankel comparable to that for the in-foal mares of Horse of the Year Secretariat in the 1970s or of European legend Sea-Bird back in the mid-1960s.
Like the mates of those exceptional athletes, only mares of excellent pedigree or producing record were accepted into Frankel’s first book. The two mares at Fasig are Grade 1 winners In Lingerie and Mi Sueno.
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The first mare in the ring was In Lingerie. Teruya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm, for decades a major breeder and buyer in international bloodstock, paid $2.4 million for In Lingerie, who raced for Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Gary Barber.
Cataloged as Hip 73, In Lingerie is a 4-year-old daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker (now standing at stud in Japan) out of G2 stakes winner Cat Chat, by Storm Cat. The mare’s second dam is champion juvenile filly Phone Chatter (by Phone Trick), winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Oak Leaf Stakes.
Winner of the 2012 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, In Lingerie won four of eight starts and earned $712,265. Her other graded victories were the G2 Black-Eyed Susan and the G3 Bourbonette Stakes. Last year, In Lingerie also ran second in the G1 Alabama, and third in the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks.
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At the Fasig-Tipton November sale last year, In Lingerie was hammered down for $2.2 million, but did not reach her reserve.
Consigned by Bluewater Sales, In Lingerie is carrying her first foal on a May 4 cover to Frankel.
Likewise out of the Bluewater Sales consignment but for a different owner, Mi Sueno was Hip 195. The bay daughter of leading sire Pulpit is out of G1 winner Madcap Escapade, by Hennessy.
A winner in two of her four starts, 6-year-old Mi Sueno won the G1 Del Mar Debutante and is in foal on an April 28 cover to the European champion. Mi Sueno has an unraced 2-year-old filly by Medaglia d’Oro and a yearling filly by Street Cry. She had no reported foal in 2013.
Mi Sueno previously sold as a weanling for $1.7 million at the Keeneland November sale when co-breeder Southern Equine bought out its partner in the filly.
The daughter of Pulpit walked into the ring with the confidence of a top-class mare, and buyers responded, opening the bidding for her at $500,000 and crisply raising the ante past $1 million. When the bidding ended at $1.9 million, the winner was Katsumi Yoshida.
With these and other premium broodmares carrying Frankel’s first foals, the odds are in favor of the unbeaten champion achieving status as a sire that will keep him prominently before the racing public.
Frank Mitchell is author of Racehorse Breeding Theories, as well as the book Great Breeders and Their Methods: The Hancocks. In addition to writing the column “Sires and Dams” in Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years, he has contributed articles to Thoroughbred Daily News, Thoroughbred Times, Thoroughbred Record, International Thoroughbred, and other major publications. In addition, Frank is a private consultant to breeders on pedigrees, matings, and conformation. He is a hands-on caretaker of his own broodmares and foals in central Kentucky. Check out Frank’s lively Bloodstock in the Bluegrass blog.
