A champion in every sense of the word when describing thoroughbred brilliance, elite racehorse turned sire Frankel will have the chance to add to his southern hemisphere record in Saturday’s Flight Stakes at Royal Randwick.
Armed with two three-year-old daughters in the signature Group 1 race for fillies at Royal Randwick - the Fairway Thoroughbreds-bred and raced Magenta Skies and the Chris Waller-trained Enviable - Frankel is well-placed to add to his record of 20 Australian stakes winners from 111 runners.
With his biggest representation of southern hemisphere-foaled runners just turned three, his 18 per cent stakes winners to runners ratio might take a hit, but his progeny’s presence in big races is almost certain to continue.
The Michael Freedman-trained Magenta Skies, whose dam Fireworks was left in the United Kingdom to foal by owner John Camilleri carries a GB suffix, technically won’t count towards Frankel’s “southern hemisphere statistics” even if she is to win the Flight Stakes.
Frankel has 31 three-year-olds who were foaled in Australia after being conceived at Juddmonte in Newmarket, with his increasing numbers the result of a surge in his popularity on the back of the success of Yulong’s dual Group 1-winning filly Hungry Heart, Converge, Miss Fabulass, Steinem, My Whisper and Argentia.
Of the 19 yearlings offered at public auction from that 2022-born crop, 16 were sold for a combined $8 million at an average of $500,000.
Intriguingly, two of the southern hemisphere-foaled Frankel three-year-olds, who were sold at the 2024 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, found their way back to their country of conception and into training with George Boughey.
Heed, a $200,000 purchase by Centurion Bloodstock from Yulong, won on debut over 1600m at Ffos Las, a dual-purpose flat and jumps track in the picturesque West Wales countryside, despite an age disadvantage to her northern hemisphere-born rivals.
Her stablemate Gran Ventura, another filly by Frankel who was also bought out of the Yulong draft for $350,000 at the same Easter sale as Heed, ran third at her first start at Newmarket in June.
Still to run for him is $1 million filly Kalgoorlie Girl, the highest-priced yearling sold in the southern hemisphere by Frankel last year, who is a half-sister to US Grade 2 winner Ozara.
There’s also Mackerel Sky, a Yulong-owned filly in with Anthony and Sam Freedman. She is a daughter of Divided Sky, a mare Yulong founder Zhang Yuesheng paid $650,000 at the 2022 Inglis Chairman’s Sale when in foal to one of Europe’s leading sires.
That night Zhang bought all three mares offered in foal to Frankel and nine of the 11 to sell at Magic Millions on the Gold Coast later in May 2022.
Ciaron Maher, who trained Steinem to win four races and earn more than $700,000 in prize money, has unraced fillies Purify and Mary Tudor still to step out while Peter Gelagotis has Frandema, the $825,000 Great Southern Weanling Sale-topper of 2023 in work at his Pakenham stable.
Australasian buyers demonstrated their continued faith in Frankel, with his just turned two-year-olds averaging $544,186 at the 2025 yearling sales in Australia and New Zealand this year.
The highest-priced lot was a Frankel colt sold at the Inglis Melbourne Premier sale by Rosemont Stud to trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy and American owner John Stewart’s Resolute Racing.
A colt and a filly by the sire also sold for $900,000 at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast last January.
The stats show that give them a bit of time and the Frankels will shine, with six of his southern hemisphere-foaled stakes winners achieving those feats at ages three and four.
