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Columnist Ralph Siraco: Frankel has Successful Weekend

By the end of Sunday, Frankel now can be known as "king of the multiple-stakes victories-in-a-weekend" and go by "Pacific Classic Bobby."

You would think that a man who turned 60 in early July should take it a little easier. But Frankel had stops in Del Mar, Chicago, Saratoga and back to Del Mar jammed into a weekend of big races with big horses.

Four of the five starters were for his number one client: Juddmonte Farms of Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

The two-time Eclipse Award winner began his odyssey on Saturday with starters in two of the three Arlington Million Festival races in Chicago and the favorite in the feature at Saratoga. He saddled the five-year-old mare The Seven Seas, owned by Charles Kenis, for the $700,000 Grade I Beverly D. and the five-year-old Senure for the $1 million Grade I Arlington Million.

In upstate New York, the Brooklyn-born conditioner sent Flute to the post in the Grade I $750,000 Alabama stakes -- the premiere event for three-year-old fillies annually at the spa.

Sunday, Frankel stayed at Saratoga and attended to his Hollywood Gold Cup winner Aptitude for the Grade II $300,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap while assistants back at the beach tightened the girth on Skimming for the Grade I $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Before Frankel left on his assault, he said a single victory would be fine, two would be great and three would put him on the moon. Anything beyond that would be frightening.

Frankel was doing the moonwalk by sundown Sunday.

In the 1 3/16ths-mile Beverly D. on the Arlington turf course, jockey Alex Solis had The Seven Seas tracking near the rear of the pack early. In her usual running style, The Seven Seas kicked into gear on the far turn and had collared the field by the time they hit the home straight. Solis thought he had the race won until he noticed another horse in the distance ahead. Frankel settled for second as England's Legend was an elusive target.

The Arlington Million would be run on a course made anything but firm from recent midwest rains. Jockey Robbie Davis made the best of bad racing conditions with Frankel's Senure but the United Nations winner could not get on track in the 1 1/4-mile feature and finished a non-threatening seventh while Germany's Silvano won decisively.

Flute saved a Saturday shutout. The flashy daughter of Seattle Slew went right to the lead in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama and made every pole a winning one. She is now on track for the World Thoroughbred Championship Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park Oct. 27.

Sunday was a sweep.

The Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap would serve as a proving ground for the always promising Aptitude, who rolled through the spa home stretch for a solid victory under jockey Jerry Bailey. Now, the promise can be realized on the road to a World Championship Breeders' Cup Classic berth.

Less than an hour later, at Del Mar, Skimming was ready to defend his Pacific Classic title and produce an unmatchable record for Frankel. Jockey Garrett Gomez sent the five-year-old son of Nereyev right to the front in the 1 1/4-mile seaside centerpiece.

Skimming had taken the same route to victory as last year. First a win in the San Diego Handicap -- the track's Pacific Classic prep -- and on to the main event. He is the ultimate "horse-for-course" horse, having won four races -- all four stakes outings -- from four seaside starts. He also gave Frankel an unprecedented sixth victory in the 11-year history of the track's signature race.

Frankel has won 25 training titles -- 13 at Hollywood Park, five at Santa Anita, six at Oak Tree and one at Saratoga -- and has conditioned four national champions in Bertrando (1993), Possibly Perfect (1995), Wandesta (1996) and Ryafan (1997).

As amazing as it seems, Frankel has never won a Breeders' Cup race in 36 attempts. He's getting closer, though. Honest Lady was a fast-closing second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint last year, and with his building arsenal for this year, Broadway Bobby may return as Bombs Away Bobby this fall.

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