R.I.P Robert Frankel

[Trendsman]

one of the most respected trainers in the history of American racing, has died in California after a lengthy illness. He was 68. Five times champion trainer in America and holder of the world record for most Grade or Group 1 victories in a single season, Frankel was a leading trainer in the States for four decades. He was associated with a succession of American champions, notably Breeders' Cup Classic winner Ghostzapper and others like Bertrando and Ginger Punch. Four times leading prize-money earner in the States and elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, he was best known in Europe as American trainer for Khalid Abdullah's powerful Juddmonte operation. In 2003, he won 25 Grade 1 races, a single-season world record that still stands. Even last year, perhaps not one of his finest, he still set the standard in terms of Grade 1 wins in North America with 11. Frankel died at his home in Pacific Palisades, California, on Monday morning from cancer-related complications. According to reports, Frankel's ex-wife Bonita and his daughter Bethenny were at his side. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, the outspoken Frankel worked in junior roles at Belmont Park and Aqueduct before taking out a training licence in 1966 and making his mark with lowly claimers whom he transformed into stakes-class performers. Betting played a major role in his early career. According to an anecdote in the Daily Racing Form, one day in New York in the early 1960s he took $40 to the track and hit the daily double - the start of a roll that ended up with his coming home with $20,000. Frankel really achieved prominence as a trainer after moving to California in the early 1970s, via a succession of training titles at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. With the Niarchos family already among his clientele, Frankel later became American trainer for Juddmonte, establishing a fearsome reputation for his prowess with turf performers in the process. Fittingly, his final major victory came in last month's Canadian International on grass at Woodbine, with Juddmonte's Champs Elysees. He won the first of five Eclipse Awards as champion trainer in 1993, then repeated the dose seven years later, the first in a run offour successive championships. Although the Kentucky Derby eluded Frankel, his CV is littered with major-race victories including six Breeders' Cup races, notably the 2004 Classic with Ghostzapper, and a Belmont Stakes win with Empire Maker the previous year. He won 11 Eclipse awards with ten horses: Aldebaran, Bertrando, Ghostzapper, Ginger Punch, Intercontinental, Leroidesanimaux, Possibly Perfect, Ryafan, Squirtle Squirt and Wandesta. He also won the Japan Cup in 1988 with Pay The Butler, plus several major races with ex-European-trained horses like dual Pacific Classic winner Tinners Way and Breeders' Cup winner Ventura. According to Equibase statistics, Frankel won 3,654 races from 17,657 starters in North America, where his horses earned $227,947,775, second all-time on the money list to D. Wayne Lukas. Such was his dominance in California that fellow trainer Julio Canani nicknamed him ‘Presidente' in admiration. In recent seasons he had divided his operation between California, where he won 30 individual training titles, and New York, where he gained regular Graded-stakes success at Belmont and Saratoga. An obituary in the Daily Racing Form offers an insight into Frankel's personality. "Frankel was known as a bit of a grouch, one who complained long and loud when he saw something wrong," it says. "He could be playful and witty one moment, a pit bull the next. But his outspokenness was born of a sincere passion for the game, and his gruff exterior masked a man who would get choked up when misfortune befell one of his horses or his dogs." "Taken From The RP"