2011 Kentucky Derby: Frankel Is Story, Even If He Isn't in Race

The best three-year-old with connections to America is not running on Saturday. He also won't run in two weeks time in the Preakness. And for that matter, there's almost no chance that he'll run in the Belmont Stakes. 

Heck, if there were odds on such a thing, you probably could get quoted at 20-1 on this horse running on our shores at any point before the Breeders Cup Championships this fall at Churchill Downs. And even with 20-1, it's not worth a bet. 

The best three-year-old colt in the world, and possibly, possibly, the best racing horse of any age anywhere, is based in England, sired by an Irish sire and out of an Irish mare. His crowning achievement will likely be if he wins a race in France. 

The American connection? He's named for one of the greatest American trainers ever. 

On Nov. 16, 2009, Bobby Frankel, a winner of over 3,000 races, including hundreds of major stakes races, succumbed after a lengthy battle with leukemia. 

Even during his last days, even when he knew his time was short, he was on the phone every day with his assistant trainers, including lead assistant Humberto Ascanio, sending out instructions and just checking in on his beloved animals. He gave Ascanio instructions to run Ventura one last time, to run her in the Matriarch, even though he would not be around to see her last win. 

Two days after his death, Life By R R, a low level claiming horse, ran in the fifth race at Hollywood Park. Life By R R had cleared the entry box in Frankel's name, the last horse ever with Frankel's name in any track's official entries. He won, giving Frankel one last win, even if technically it was the first win in Ascanio's career. 

While Frankel has received a multitude of honors since his passing, including Santa Anita renaming the San Gorgonio Handicap, which Frankel won eight times, in his honor, none may be as lasting as that made by his former client. 

Prince Khalid Abdulla, a member of the Saudi Royal Family and owner of Juddmonte Farms, had employed Frankel as his U.S.-based trainer for over 20 years. 

Countless champions, including 2003 Belmont Stakes-winner Empire Maker, donned the famous green silks with the pink stripe in the name of Frankel. 

Now, instead of that name in the trainer's box, it's the name of the horse. 

Frankel, a three-year-old bay colt by Galileo out of Kind by Danehill, has started his career in champion's fashion, winning six consecutive races in England. 

As a two-year-old, he swept through England on his way to a Cartier Award as Europe's top two-year-old colt. He was never even shown the whip. Like Uncle Mo in the United States, his name was on everyone's lips for Classic glory come spring. 

Except unlike Uncle Mo, Frankel just kept getting better. 

He won his three-year-old debut at Newbury in the seven furlong Greenham Stakes, drawing clear with about a quarter-mile to go and continuing on to score comfortably by four lengths. He never even came under a ride. 

Then last Saturday at Newmarket, Frankel became the Classic champion everyone touted him to be, drawing clear less than a furlong into the 1-mile 2,000 Guineas and putting a field of England's best three-year-olds to shame. 

He was almost ten lengths clear at half-way. He walked the final quarter-mile, winning by 2 and ¼ lengths in a canter, "a horse who is pure class,” Ian Bartlett said in his race call.

Although trainer Henry Cecil has ruled out the 1-1/2 mile Epsom Derby, the second leg after the Guineas in the English Triple Crown, his career is anything but over. He's being pushed towards the International Stakes at York in August on the path to a potential fall meeting against the best horse from Australia in So You Think. As a lead-up to that, he's likely to run at June's Royal Ascot meeting in the St. James's Palace Stakes over a right-hand one-turn mile course. 

The International Stakes, by the way, is sponsored by Juddmonte Farms, although it has never had a winner.

And, lest we get ahead of ourselves, but Frankel could make his debut in the United States on Breeders' Cup weekend in the Breeders' Cup Mile. There, he would likely meet super-mare Goldikova, winner of the race each of the past three years. 

Should he sweep all those races, should his “pure class” shine through, he could stamp himself as one of the greatest horses of all time. 

He would have beaten one of the most heavily-tipped horses to come out of Australia in decades, as well as a dual-champion on both sides of the pond in Goldikova. 

He also would finish his career how not even the great Sea The Stars, the only horse ever to follow up a Guineas and Derby win in the Spring with a triumph in Europe's marquee race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in Paris on the first Sunday in October, did. He would retire how not even the great American mare Zenyatta, the only filly to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and the only major thoroughbred in the modern era to win 19 consecutive races, did. 

He would retire unbeaten. 

After his first six starts, it is hard to see a horse who could beat him. 

Of course, the International Stakes will be a big test. He has yet to go 1-1/4 miles, and he also has never faced a field that will be as stout as he will then. 

Then, if he gets past that test, both So You Think and Goldikova remain. Both are true legends of the sport. 

Yet if he comes to Churchill Downs with a chance at history; if he goes up against Goldikova in the beautiful green and pink that can only mean Juddmonte, it will be hard not to root for him. Even though Goldikova stole our hearts the past three years with her magnificence, she'll never be American. 

It cannot get more American than Frankel, even though he is an Irish horse running in England for an English trainer and owned by a Saudi Prince. His name, what his name means, how much his namesake meant to American racing for four decades is too much to overlook. 

The best three-year-old colt in the world isn't racing on Saturday, not at Churchill Downs, not anywhere. And no matter who wins the Kentucky Derby, no matter how great he looks in doing so, nothing will convince me that he is the best. 

America's horse will run in June at Royal Ascot in England. He'll likely win. If he keeps progressing, hopefully we'll finally get to see him that first Saturday in November. 

Bobby Frankel, we will never forget you.

Frankel, we cannot wait to see you run.