WILLIAM HAGGAS has laughed off suggestions Baaeed is in the same league as legend Frankel.
But ten years on from arguably Frankel’s best-ever win, Haggas’ unbeaten miler is starting to tread a similar path as he heads to Ascot for the Queen Anne.
Tom Queally rode Frankel to win on all 14 of his starts
Sir Henry Cecil’s brilliant horse went an astonishing 14 races unbeaten and was the last horse to be splashed on front pages of newspapers, as well as the back.
Part of the magic and Frankel allure was, of course, down to his trainer who was sadly suffering with cancer as his horse smashed record after record and battered Group 1 rivals for fun.
Baaeed’s has yet to capture the public’s attention like Frankel. But, on the track, his seven wins from seven has at least started to turn a few heads.
And after his latest victory in the Lockinge at Newbury the first F bomb was launched in the post-race wash-up: Is Baaeed the new Frankel?
Most will still rightly say ‘no, not yet’, despite Baaeed being officially the best in the world.
And his trainer would wholeheartedly agree. Haggas has continued to play a straight bat the way he knows best.
He told me: “I’ve never once mentioned Frankel! It’s you lot trying to drum it up.
“Frankel was a freak and trained perfectly by a master.
“Baaeed is rated about 15lb below him and has only won half as many races. Baaeed is so straightforward to train, he’s relaxed at home and on the gallops and it’s easy.
“Frankel took some handling every morning and that was all down to Henry’s brilliance.”
So one camp have played down the Frankel-Baaeed comparisons — but what about the other?
Sir Henry passed away in June 2013 from stomach cancer, seven months after Frankel’s powerful and emotional last racecourse outing in the Champion Stakes.
During his heyday Cecil said there would never be a horse like him again and who could argue with that.
Now, on the eve of Royal Ascot, his wife Jane — who hates being called ‘Lady’ — recalled Frankel’s fabulous Queen Anne romp and hinted her late husband’s claim still rings true.
In the Queen Anne, Frankel would kick clear of his trusty pacemaker Bullet Train well over two furlongs out to storm home from Aidan O’Brien’s Excelebration by 11 lengths, the furthest of his career.
Timeform gave Frankel his highest-ever rating of 147 afterwards and everyone knew they had witnessed true greatness, history and a Royal Ascot ‘wow’ moment all rolled into one.
FRANKEL's famous Queen Anne Stakes win in 2012
Just a little something to get you excited for Royal @Ascot.
pic.twitter.com/wRygjR6TSG
— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) June 10, 2022
For comparison, Sea-Bird on 145 achieved the next best career rating with Brigadier Gerard on 144, Mill Reef on 141 and Shergar and Sea The Stars on 140.
Lady Cecil said: “Henry had prepared him beautifully for the race. I remember the way he burst clear and the noise the crowd made was unbelievable, the whole day was like a film script. It was glorious, I wish you could bottle it.
“He’d had a tiny setback before the Lockinge but after that his work before Ascot was better than it had ever been.
“It sounds stupid to say because he was always the short-priced favourite, but that was the most confident we had ever been heading to a racecourse with Frankel.
“But even then we weren’t prepared for the, how can I put it . . . the astonishing display. It went perfectly, Tom Queally sat behind Bullet Train and whoosh, he went.
“He had them beaten so far out and Excelebration, bless him, tried but couldn’t live with him.
“You could see just how much Frankel was enjoying it and I always say that was what made him so special. He enjoyed it as much as we all did!
“He just loved racing as on the gallops we had to rein him in, and his work rider Shane Fetherstonhaugh did such an amazing job with him.
“He must have had the biggest muscles in Newmarket from holding Frankel every morning. When he got to the racecourse it was his chance to show everyone what he could do.
“He meant everything to Henry and I just wish I’d saved some more memories from the races. I should have kept a diary and taken some pictures.
“People used to put £1 on him every time he ran just so they could keep the winning tickets each time. I just wish I’d done something like that.”
Cecil went on to train from her husband’s famous Warren Place stables before retiring in 2016 and still keeps a keen eye on the racing.
She will be at Royal Ascot this week.
Whether she will witness Baaeed matching Frankel’s famous 11 length romp will be revealed in the first race today, the Queen Anne Stakes, part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.
She said: “He looks very special, doesn’t he? I’m thrilled for William and Maureen Haggas — even more so after the sad news about Lester recently.
“I hope having such a wonderful horse will, in some small way, help ease the pain of losing Lester.
“I’m sure Baaeed will win and win well. He’s a very, very good horse.
“But what Frankel did was pretty spectacular. You should never say never, but will there be one like him again?
“I’m not sure. He captured the racing public’s imagination, but wider than that too. Henry was very old-fashioned in lots of ways, but he embraced that.”
Sir Henry embraced the public and, boy, did punters love him and Frankel.
Baaeed might never pull at the heartstrings the way they did, but on the track he’s heading in the right direction.
Enjoy these superstars when you can, they don’t come around often.
