Son of Frankel shines at Newbury

Frankel has hot his new career as a stallion off to a perfect start. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com.

The next chapter of the incredible Frankel story began in fairytale fashion today when Cunco, his first foal to be born and his first runner on the racetrack, proved a chip off the old block and won in tidy fashion.

Cunco was on his toes and coltish in the preliminaries before the start of the second division of the 6f maiden at Newbury, but he settled nicely once the race was under way and won snugly after showing some of the acceleration that helped his superstar Dad scoop nine successive QIPCO British Champions Series races.

It took Robert Havlin an age to pull Cunco up afterwards, suggesting the youngster, out of smart mare mare Chrysanthemum, will have no trouble staying farther. Paddy Power reacted by quoting him at 6-1 for the 7f Chesham Stakes, run on the final day of Royal Ascot next month.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Juddmonte Farms supremo Prince Khalid Abdullah, in whose colours Frankel excelled, was thrilled. “It couldn’t be better – Prince Khalid’s absolutely delighted,” he said. “To have his first foal be his first runner and his first winner is pretty remarkable.

“There’s been a mixture of excitement, tension, apprehension – the whole gamut of emotions. We’ve been excited about him, but there’s been a lot of very good racehorses who weren’t good stallions.

“From the point of view of Frankel, the interest in him has never waned. It’s been ongoing and phenomenal.”

Cunco was Frankel’s first foal, born at 8.30pm on January 11, 2014, on the same day as the late Sir Henry Cecil’s birthday.

The fact that he was making his debut on the Friday 13th was never going to be a bad omen because so did Frankel, who won all 14 of his races and is regarded by many as the greatest thoroughbred to have graced the turf.

Frankel has a long way to go before matching the exploits of his own sire, Galileo, but does have one up on his father. Galileo’s first two-year-old winner did not strike until July 17, 2005.