The Trainer And The Racehorse: The Legend Of Frankel

The horse that brought new life to a dying man
Ben-Felsenburg-colour-176You might hardly know your hoof from your harness and still spot that Frankel is a beast of uncommon grace and power. Touched with a white star upon its forehead, the horse many rate the best-ever finished like a train in nearly all the 14 consecutive victories that comprise its brilliant career. Yet perhaps Frankel’s greatest triumph was to give a new lease of life to a man who was dying.

The Trainer And The Racehorse: The Legend Of Frankel (Saturday, Channel 4, 7pm) is an extraordinary and inspiring story.

Cecil had been champion trainer 10 times, but by 2010 his best years were far behind, after scandal, his twin brother David’s death and his own diagnosis with cancer had all taken their toll.

Then along came Frankel, brought to him by the Saudi Prince Khalid, who remained loyal to Cecil after others had long deserted him. The prince’s reward was the final and greatest assertion of his trainer’s magical genius; Cecil’s was the longmerited knighthood and a place in the Queen’s carriage on the Ascot racecourse. The footage of Frankel in action is magnificently compelling: can it be said of an animal that it exudes charisma?

As for Cecil, who was always rakish and possessed of a vividly lived-in face, race by race he fades away, until there is hardly anything more left of him than bones and skin and an incredible appetite for life and excitement about his beloved champion.

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