Cover image courtesy of Juddmonte Farms
International bloodlines having an influence in Australia is nothing new, with shuttle stallions a significant aspect of the global thoroughbred breeding industry, but what Frankel has been able to achieve at a relatively early point of his career in this part of the world is something entirely different.
Historically, there are very few stallions who have been able to produce consistent stakes winners on the other side of the world without having actually stood in that country.
Frankel has now had seven stakes winners in Australia from just 35 runners, a success rate of 20 per cent, while he has had two Group 1 winners, Mirage Dancer (GB) in last year's G1 Metropolitan H. and now Hungry Heart, who last Saturday added the G1 Australian Oaks to her victory in the Vinery Stud S. earlier this month.
That pair represents the two key sources of success for progeny of Frankel in Australia to this point in his career.
Mirage Dancer, from his very first crop, was bred by Juddmonte, raced in the same colours as his father and was then sold privately to Australian interests, headed by Seymour Bloodstock.
There have been 15 internationally bred progeny of Frankel to compete in Australia for eight winners, with Mirage Dancer and Finche (GB) the two stakes winners.
"There have been 15 internationally bred progeny of Frankel to compete in Australia for eight winners."
Hungry Heart, meanwhile, was bred by Yulong from a mare, Harlech (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who was purchased specifically to visit Frankel before heading to Australia. She is one of 15 Australian-bred winners by Frankel from 20 runners, a list that includes five stakes winners, as well as Wednesday's Canterbury winner, Yangtze Rapids.
Of that list of stakes winners, Converge, Frankely Awesome and Significance, like Hungry Heart, are all out of mares imported to Australia in foal to Frankel, while Miss Fabulass is the only one out of an Australian mare sent to Frankel before she was foaled in Australia.
Australian mares heading to Great Britain to visit Frankel has been a relative rarity, with only 17 of his Australian-born progeny bred from Australian or New Zealand-bred mares of his seven crops to date.
Should Converge prevail in the Champagne S. on Saturday, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained gelding would break new ground as Frankel's first 2-year-old Group 1 winner in Australia and just his fourth overall, joining Quadrilateral (GB), Soul Stirring (Jpn) and Granadier Guards (Jpn).
Frankel (GB) | Standing at Juddmonte Farms
Comparing the global stars
When you look at the Australian racing records of the progeny of prominent international stallions who haven't shuttled to Australia, you get a strong appreciation of just what Frankel has been able to achieve.
The most obvious modern comparison is to now-departed Japanese superstar Deep Impact (Jpn), who has had a similar number of runners in Australia to Frankel. His 30 runners feature 16 winners, including three stakes winners, Tosen Stardom (Jpn), Fierce Impact (Jpn) and Real Impact (Jpn), who all were successful at Group 1 level, and all of which have become stallions.
When it comes to Deep Impact's Australian-bred progeny, that is from mares who came to Australia after getting in foal to him, he has had seven winners from 10 runners, but is yet to get stakes success, with two black-type performers.
| Frankel | 35 | 23 | 7 |
| Deep Impact | 30 | 16 | 3 |
| Pivotal | 20 | 16 | 3 |
| Monsun | 18 | 11 | 6 |
| Heart's Cry | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Kingman | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| War Front | 13 | 6 | 1 |
| Sea The Stars | 23 | 15 | 5 |
| Tapit | 23 | 11 | 1 |
Table: Selected international stallions - progeny record in Australia
The second most successful internationally based 'non-shuttle' stallion behind Frankel in terms of Australian stakes winners in the past decade has been Monsun (Ger), who stood at Gestut Schlenderhan in Germany until his death in 2012.
His remarkable feat to sire three Melbourne Cup winners, Fiorente (Ire), Protectionist (Ger) and Almandin (Ger), is backed up by the fact he has also produced three other stakes winners, Vengeur Masque (Ire), Excess Knowledge (GB) and Midsummer Sun (GB). His six stakes winners in total have come from just 18 Australian runners, all bred overseas. He has had 11 winners overall. Thanks to those trio of Cup winners, his progeny have earned over $18 million in Australia.
The Aga Khan's Sea The Stars (Ire), based at Gilltown Stud in Ireland, is another international stallion who has had great success with limited runners in Australia, headlined by G1 Australian Cup winner Fifty Stars (Ire) and G1 Sydney Cup winner Shraaoh (Ire). That success has come from just 23 runners, 15 of which have been winners.
The recently retired Pivotal (GB) is another stallion of that ilk to have had Group 1 success in Australia despite small numbers, headlined by Addeybb (Ire), who won his second G1 Queen Elizabeth S. last week, and another triple Group 1 winner in Avilius (GB). From 20 runners in Australia, he has had 15 winners, with Australian-bred Peck, joining the two stars mentioned above as his stakes winners.
Japanese-based Heart's Cry (Jpn) also has three Australian stakes winners, with two Group 1 winners, Cox Plate heroine Lys Gracieux (Jpn) and Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti (Jpn). Joining them as stakes winners from Heart's Cry's eight Australian runners is Listed winner A Shin Rook (Jpn).
Casting a net further back this century, you get to stallions such as Kingmambo (USA), who from seven starters in Australia produced Group 1 winners Tawqeet (USA) and My Kingdom Of Fife (GB), and Sunday Silence (USA), who from 15 runners in Australia had two stakes winners, including G1 Australian Oaks winner Sunday Joy.
Sunday Silence sits alongside Frankel as the only stallions in the list we compiled who have produced multiple Australian-bred stakes winners in the recent past. Other internationally based stallions to have sired Australian-bred stakes winners include Tapit (USA) and Pivotal.
The late Sunday Silence (USA) sits alongside Frankel (GB) as the only stallions in the list we compiled who have produced multiple Australian-bred stakes winners in the recent past
Once were shuttlers
There are also a few significant international stallions who we haven't touched on here who shuttled to Australia early in their careers, but became even more influential as stallions after they departed.
Invincible Spirit (Ire), who shuttled to Australia from 2003 to 2006, has become tremendously prominent in terms of his sireline in this country, and among his seven Australian-bred stakes winners are Group 1-winning mare Yosei and the Yarraman Park star stallion I Am Invincible.
"Invincible Spirit, who shuttled to Australia from 2003 to 2006, has become tremendously prominent in terms of his sireline in this country."
In similar mould are horses like Dubawi (Ire), Street Cry (Ire) and Shamardal (USA) but it is Frankel's own stallion, Galileo (Ire), that best exemplifies that trend. He spent five seasons in Australia in the early 2000s before going on to become the most influential stallion in Europe in the 21st century. From his five Australian crops, he produced 18 stakes winners, including three Group 1 winners, from 351 runners. On face value, they are solid but not spectacular stats.
But if you look at Galileo's impact of his Northern Hemisphere-bred progeny in Australia, it’s a different story. He has had 17 internationally bred stakes winners in Australia from 109 runners. That list includes six Group 1 winners, all of which were either owned by Coolmore or owned by Lloyd Williams, having purchased them from Coolmore.
Galileo (Ire) | Standing at Coolmore Ireland
Sadler's Wells and Danehill
Going back a generation further in the sirelines, we get to Galileo's sire Sadler's Wells (USA), who never travelled to Australia but did set a strong standard when it came to the performance of his progeny in this country.
He had 33 starters in Australia for 20 winners, including three at stakes level. What is significant is two of them were Group 1 winners in Darazari (Ire) and Runyon (Ire), laying the groundwork for his own sons to come to Australia in the 21st century.
Looking into the other side of Frankel's pedigree and we immediately come across another major reason why he is becoming such a dominant global presence, with his dam, Kind (Ire) being by Danehill (USA). He is an international stallion whose influence in Australian racing is arguably greater than any other in the past 50 years.
Danehill's own stats in Australia are impossible to compare to many of the others in this article as he spent 13 seasons shuttling here but are worth mentioning nonetheless. From 881 starters in Australia, he had 689 winners, with 153 stakes winners. That’s a runners-to-stakes winner ratio of 17.3 per cent.
