Not Older…Better
January 19th, 2006by Jude T. Feld
Bobby Frankel
NYRA Photo
The NTRA’s clever “Who do you like today?” ads feature a cute little girl who says, “I like 11-year-olds.” It is the perfect blending of innocent puppy-love and handicapping fact, delivered by someone who, “oughtta be in pictures”, as my late friend Joshua Shelley would say.
There is something about old horses that appeals to a lot of us in Thoroughbred racing. In a sport that stands 1200 pounds, going 40 miles an hour, on one ankle the size of your wrist, at a time, those game animals who have survived the racing wars for five, six, seven and eight seasons are certainly revered, if not worshipped by racing fans everywhere.
One of the best at getting the most out of geriatric horses was Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. Now that he trains for Juddmonte Farms, people forget that Frankel was possibly the greatest claiming trainer of the last century. He won countless races with oldtimers like Pataha Prince and Fleet Grounded, but my favorite Frankel “antique” claim was Strong Award.
A foal of 1965, Strong Award, by top Washington sire Strong Ruler, ran once at two finishing third in the Oregon Futurity, a race that although had no national implications, hinted at future success. At three, he won two races and placed in four others. In his four-year-old season, the best he could do was a win and a third. Finally blossoming at five, he won the British Columbia Handicap and at six, the Yakima Mile. He won twice at seven and four times at eight, despite losing an eye somewhere along the way.
Frankel claimed him from my mother’s obstetrician-gynecologist, George J. Shima, who dabbled in breeding Cal-bred horses when he wasn’t delivering Cal-bred humans at Methodist Hospital, a furlong from Santa Anita. Shima was seldom happy with the performance of any of his trainers and finally took out his own license when he retired from the delivery room.
A better doctor than a trainer, even the usually consistent Strong Award couldn’t find the winners’ circle for Shima. It was a different story with Frankel.
The big bay gelding responded to Frankel’s turbulator, ice and poultice, the famous hand-mixed feed and a light training regimen of ponying and jogging. He won seven races, including the Manchester Claiming Stakes at nine, a win at 10, four wins at 11 and three wins at 12. That, my fellow Americans, is a racehorse.
Born 33 years later than Strong Award, Ralph and Aury Todd’s The Tin Man was unraced at two and only started three times at three, all on the grass, winning one and finishing second in another. In nine starts at four, the Kentucky-bred son of Triple Crown winner Affirmed won five races including the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial (G1) and the American Handicap (G2). His lone victory at five was in the San Luis Obispo Handicap (G2). Winless in three starts at six, he twisted his ankle severely on November 19, 2003 while training at Hollywood Park.
Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, a man whose patience would make Job green with envy, returned the “cool old guy,” as he now calls The Tin Man, for one race at seven – a one-mile allowance victory, that would set the tone for a magnificent 2006 campaign.
Now eight, he annexed the San Marcos (G2) at Santa Anita, traveled to Dubai for a solid second-place effort in the Dubai Duty Free (G1), returned to Hollywood Park and broke the “Dubai jinx” by capturing the American Handicap (G2) for the second time.
Saturday, August 12, under a magnificent ride by Victor Espinoza, The Tin Man cruised wire-to-wire in the prestigious Arlington Million (G1), defeating Juddmonte Farm’s Cacique, who is trained by Bobby Frankel, upping his total lifetime earnings to an impressive $2,976,860.
Frankel hates to lose any race, especially a $1 million Grade 1. But since he is a true fan, I gotta think Bobby smiled just a little bit, getting beat by an aptly-named eight-year-old with alotta heart, since he made his reputation with horses many thought had seen better days. After all, Frankel is a “cool old guy” himself.
