Superstar racehorse Frankel has left trainer Sir Henry Cecil’s yard to start his new life at Banstead Manor Stud.
Frankel, who retired unbeaten last month after his 14th win, will stand for his owner Khalid Abdulla’s Juddmonte Farms at Banstead Manor in 2013.
The four-year-old was waved off from Warren Place by Sir Henry and his staff earlier today (Thursday 8 November).
“There is no doubt Frankel has been a brilliant racehorse. I am pretty certain that there has never been a better or more talented thoroughbred,” Sir Henry Cecil said.
“He had the speed to be a champion sprinter and then, once he grew up and settled, he got a distance with a turn of foot that makes champions.
“Today is a sad day in some ways for us as he has given us so much pleasure over the past three years. But I want to thank Frankel for so much — for being such a very special part of my training career.
“Thank you, Frankel.”
And in arriving at Banstead Manor, Frankel — by Galileo and out of Kind — returns to his birthplace.
“In the foaling unit on February 11 2008 at 11.40pm, little did we realise that we were witnessing the birth of a phenomenal racehorse,” said Juddmonte’s Philip Mitchell.
“The rest as they say is history and it is now extremely exciting that Frankel will be returning to the stallion unit at Banstead — some 500 yards from where he was born.”
Picture by Trevor Jones.
To celebrate Frankel’s arrival at Banstead Manor Stud, we have an EXCLUSIVE bundle including a 12″x8″ print, 2013 calendar and 5 greeting cards up for grabs in the H&H Shop