Juddmonte boosted to £1 million prize money

York's Juddmonte International, will be worth £1 million for the first time this year for the Ebor meeting. 

Additional funds of £10,000 for the Darley Yorkshire Oaks and Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, with both now worth £350,000, while the Betfred Ebor is up £5,000 to £285,000. 

On international rankings, the Juddmonte International is rated the best race in Britain being won by some of the biggest names in the sport with the such as Frankel, Sea The Stars, Australia and Postponed.

In boosting prize-money by £100,000, York is aiming to continue to attract the star names for the contest, which will be run on August 23 this year. 

York chairman and racing manager for Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, Teddy Grimthorpe, said: "Attracting the best horses to run in competitive races on the Knavesmire is what we are all about; so I am pleased that the unstinting support from long standing sponsors has allowed us to increase prize-money for our feature races again this year.

"The Juddmonte International will reach a notable landmark demonstrating the generous support of Prince Khalid for a race that I know he cherishes." 

The Juddmonte International received a boost of £50,000 last year as part of a wider prize-money increase across the whole of the Ebor meeting.

First-season sires to watch in 2016

With the new Flat turf season on the horizon a number of readers have expressed an interest in this year's first-season sires. The table, below, details the information concisely. I will highlight a few points of interest.

There has been much anticipation surrounding the new crop of two-year-olds from Frankel standing at Banstead Manor Stud (GB). The sire's fee in 2013 being £125,000, making his offspring limited and consequently expensive. From a selective list of talented blue-blooded mares 98 live foals have seen just 23 yearlings sold at auction. This factor indicates that most juveniles will be home bred from leading thoroughbred owners and no doubt a good few with H R H Prince Khalib Abdullah. 

With an average sales price of 423,483Gns and median price of 305,250Gns there has been no lack of interest in just 23 yearlings which made the sales. It is likely these will be the better physical specimens.    

It will be interesting to see what impact Frankel's two-year-olds can muster this season. It would be a triumph to achieve a group winner this term.

A first-season sire's success is dictated by winners and all eyes will be on the first juvenile to make its debut. You can guarantee this breeding operation has been conducted meticulously. 

From a list of high achievers Frankel give this year's first-season sires additional excitement and anticipation of what could be.   

2012: A Year to Remember in Horse Racing

Looking back, it has been another eventful year in horse racing. Following are some of the highlights and lowlights, as well as a look at what can be expected going forward.

The Good

It was a year of champions at the Royal Ascot, with not one but two undefeated runners competing during one of the most noted social events of the British annual calendar. First up was Frankel in the Queen Anne stakes, winning by over 11 lengths and remaining undefeated. Frankel went on to win a total of 14 times in 14 starts before being retired still undefeated and put to stud in October. Following that spectacular opener was Black Caviar, who traveled halfway around the world to run in the Diamond Jubilee race on Saturday of the Royal Ascot. Expected to win by a similar length.to Frankel, she ended by winning only by a nose after her jockey eased up on her in the final furlong, causing her to slow down. Nonetheless, a nose is a nose, and Black Caviar maintained her undefeated status with 22 wins in 22 starts. 

The Bad

Damien Oliver, the jockey of Melbourne Cup fame, has been banned from racing for ten months for betting on a rival horse during his competition at Raceway Victoria and for using a mobile phone in the jockeys’ room before the race. Allowed to continue riding through the Melbourne Spring Carnival before admitting to the bet, he nonetheless did not deny it when charges came to light, circumstances that have caused others to question Raceway Victoria’s handling of the scandal and why charges were not brought to light sooner. 

The Crusader

Peter V’Landys finally won his case with corporate betting houses in which he asserted that waging operators should pay a one and a half percent fee to the racing industry based on the turnovers rather than simply gross revenue. The race-fields case, on file since 2006, was decided by the High Court in V’Landys’ favor. While the case was being fought, the value of the percentage was estimated at $100 million, an amount that V’landys put aside and held in trust until a decision could be reached.

Upcoming

Royal Randwick returns to give Sydney a racecourse to admire, with partial opening of the redeveloped grandstand in April for the Australian Derby, and expected full grand reopening in the spring. In addition, Black Caviar is set to start Melbourne in February. Melbourne betting scandals are still ongoing. 

This post was prepared by the guys at Free Bookie Bets, an Australian horse betting website dedicated to hunting down the best free bookie bets for punters. If you'd like to score a free bet, they can sort you out.

What Next For Frankel After His Retirement?

"One of the greatest displays on a British racecourse", one of the many comments given to Frankel in his glittering 14 race three-year career.

After his first race in 2010 at Newmarket Frankel quickly became noticed, winning all four races that season. In 2011, he had much to live up to maintaining his winning streak and he did so in style winning all five races that season. 2012 saw Frankel's amazing form continue and after his 14th and final race on October 20th, he made history when Timeform published his rating as 147, the highest-rated horse in their history.

Bigfreebet.com published several articles about Frankel's amazing career. Apart from Frankel's success a lot of bettors also had a lot of success betting on him! After that 14th and final race at Ascot, Frankel was retired.

So what next for Frankel and why was he retired? Over his 14 races, Frankel won a total of £2,999,302 which is just under £1m per year. However following on from "Sea The Stars", the champion Irish Thoroughbred who earned £9.5m (€12m) in his first season as a stud, Frankel's owners have concluded that their horse's value also lies in being a stud. Experts believe that Frankel could fetch between £80k - £120k (€100k - €150k) per mare, meaning in one year the owners could see returns of between £11m - £17m (€14m - €21m). Compare that to the £2.9m prize money that Frankel received in three years for being one of the most successful horses ever, and you can see why his owners chose to retire him. There is much more value in being a stud than a racehorse if you have the potential to produce race-winning offspring. This was proved with Sea The Stars as many of his offspring have gone on to be sold for healthy profits. So if Frankel hasn't already realised that he is special, he soon will do when he starts his new job as a stud!

Frankel may be gone from the racing world, but his blood-line will continue and it may not be long before we see one of his offspring attracting the same attention that he did on the race track. The bets are sure on the names of any horse-related to Frankel.

2:30 York (22nd August) Free Horse Racing Tips

The Pinsent Masons LLP Acomb Stakes (Group 3).

Dundonnell has been a talking horse for Roger Charlton. This American-bred colt by First Defence was an early foal, born in January, and a powerful bay. He made a pleasing introduction when making his debut at Newmarket over 7f on soft ground. The form of that race has been franked with one of today's juveniles in opposition, Afonso De Sousa, behind, while there are form lines with Steeler who won at Goodwood. Charlton rarely has his youngster primed on their first start and he found an ideal race second time when stepping up to a mile. A lowly median auction maiden stakes was a master stroke of a calculated trainer. It was no surprise to see him backed to odds of 1/4f. Clearly the word was out that this colt was going places and that day a mere gallop towards greater challenges. An effortless victory. This race will be a substantial rise in class but a string of lofty Group engagements suggest this is the beginning of an ambitious campaign. The conclusion being the Racing Post Trophy Stakes (Group 1) at the end of October. On a day when Frankel will capture the imagination of the racing world these familiar green, pink & white racing silks of owner K Abdulla will be a perfect apperatiffe to the wonder horse that is Frankel. If Dundonnell leads the way the Juddmonte International Stakes (Group 1) will be an even sweeter race to savour. 

A fantastic day's racing.