world rankings Cracksman: emulated his sire Frankel and topped the World Rankings
Cracksman: his father’s son
The World Rankings confirm Frankel’s talent as a sire, writes Alan Porter
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n 2012 Frankel earned the distinction of being the highestrated horse since the global rankings were first conceived. More significant, however, is that the utter dominance of Frankel was a catalyst for a recalibration of the International Classifications and World Thoroughbred Rankings from 1977 onwards. It’s rare that a great racehorse gets a horse as good as himself, and Frankel hasn’t done this yet. What he has done, with his oldest runners still just five years of age, is to be represented by a horse who has emulated him by topping the world-rankings. The horse in question Cracksman, a member of Frankel’s first crop, was the top European of 2017 on 130. In 2018 he repeated that rating, and with Arrogate (rated 134 last year) retired, and Australian wonder-mare
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Winx dropping from 132 to 130, that figure – incidentally, 10 points lower than Frankel’s peak – was sufficient to gain a share of the honours. Four other members of Frankel’s first crop – Monarchs Glen, Mozu Ascot, Mirage Dancer, Call The Wind – were considered good enough to rate among the world’s elite, and two three-year-olds Without Parole and Nelson were also present. Clearly the fears that Frankel’s pedigree – he’s by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) out of a Danehill (Danzig) mare so combining two of the dominant strains of the era in Europe – has proved not to an impediment to his success. Inbreeding closely has had a limited impact for him as there are only three stakes winners from 38 starters (about eight per cent to starters, less than half his strike-rate with all
other mares) and just two (including Cunco who has both Sadler’s Wells and Danehill duplicated) from 26 mares where Danehill is involved. Duplications a little further back do seem effective as Cracksman is one of two stakes winners from mares by Pivotal (a grandson of Sadler’s Wells’s three-quarters brother, Nureyev), both with Green Desert (Danzig) also in the dam. Nureyev is actually in ten (from 49 starters) of Frankel’s stakes wnners, including another Group 1 winner in Without Parole (dam by Lemon Drop Kid). Frankel is also sire of 12 stakes winners, nine group or graded, out of Mr. Prospectorline mares, including one out of a mare by the horse who has been the nearest rival to his sire, Dubawi. Before leaving Frankel, we should note that
