Life of luxury lies in wait for king of Flat

He will stand as a stallion at owner Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Banstead Manor Stud at Cheveley, near Newmarket, where he is expected to cover up to 150 mares a year – at a reputed cost of £100,000 a time.

Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms breeding operations, sponsors of the International at York which Frankel won so spectacularly in August, will carefully vet prospective mares.

They don’t want their superstar’s bloodline to become diminished – Frankel was sired by the 2001 Epsom Derby winner Galileo, the mainstay of the Coolmore breeding operation in Ireland.

Galileo is the son of Sadler’s Well, a champion middle distance runner who, in turn, was sired by the phenomenal Northern Dancer who was the catalyst for the Coolmore empire.

Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe, who is also chairman of York Racecourse, said: “He’ll let down first back at Warren Place Stables and come to Banstead Manor when he’s ready. He’s been on high octane fuel so it’s a gradual letting-down process and when everyone is happy he’ll come to the stud.

“Interest in him as a stallion has been worldwide. The next process is to decide on a stud fee which Prince Khalid and (the stud’s general manager) Philip Mitchell will do. People wanting to breed to the horse will send their mares’ CVs in and Prince Khalid will send his best mares that suit. They will also decide how many outside mares will go to him. It would be good to get a good breadth of mares in terms of size, scope and pedigree.”

As for Abdullah, he said there was no chance of Frankel racing as a five-year-old – even to help aid Sir Henry Cecil’s cancer recovery. With Frankel having nothing left to prove, the Saudi prince said: “Today was important because it was his last race. I knew he was going to win beforehand and I think he would have been further in front if it hadn’t been for the ground.”