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Mare Song produces first filly to superstar stallion Frankel
Anticipated 130 foals will be born to Frankel in 2014
Song owned by Khalid Abdul Rahim of Bahrain
Rarely has an animal birth been more hotly anticipated but the equine answer to the Royal Baby has taken its first tentative steps at the home of racing, Newmarket in eastern England.
On Sunday, Song produced the first filly to the superstar stallion Frankel at the National Stud, and despite it being just a few days old, the expectation on it to succeed on the racecourse is already huge.
An anticipated 130 foals will be born to Frankel in 2014, none of which will race for two years but with the potential for some sporting sibling rivalry come 2016 at the earliest.
Song is owned by Khalid Abdul Rahim, of Bahrain, who paid $1.3 million for the mare when she was already in foal to Frankel.
Director of The National Stud Brian O’Rourke described the new offspring as “a very nice quality, athletic individual,” adding that both “mare and foal are doing well.”
There is even footage online of the foal taking some of its first steps in Newmarket. Mother and foal will stay together for at least five months.
Frankel earned owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, a Saudi prince, more than $4m in prize money during an illustrious racing career, which included a record nine consecutive Group 1 wins and ended with victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October last year.
However, Frankel, who went to work in his new role at stud in February last year, is now earning his owners infinitely more with a whopping fee of $160,000 for every mare sired and hence earnings of nearly four times his career winnings this year alone.
The offspring of 2001 Epsom Derby winner Galileo, Frankel boasts an impressive pedigree, but predicting how Frankel foals may fare is by no means an exact science.
Despite the sums paid for the mares and foals in question, she could well prove a flop.
Despite that there are high hopes for the filly and Frankel’s first foal, a colt, born just a few days earlier at Coolmore Stud in Ireland to a mare called Chrysanthemum. That colt is valued at ￡6m and has been quoted as a 100-1 shot to win the 2017 Derby.
As for the filly foal in Newmarket, she remains unnamed with suggestions for a possible moniker to the offspring of Frankel and Song, currently including Sinatra or My Way.