The standout Frankel colt is the first foal from the unraced Muhaarar (GB) mare Upside (Ire), a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Europa Point (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) and unbeaten 2-year-old turned sire Harbour Watch (Ire) – whose arthritic issues enforced retirement after just five seasons at Tweenhills Stud in the UK.
Aptly named, Upside was one of four mares purchased for a Cornerstone Stud-run fund by Tom Pritchard-Gordon, brother to Cornerstone’s General Manager Sam. With the mares bought specifically to mate to Frankel, Sam Pritchard-Gordon credited his brother as ‘solely responsible’ for the selections.
We saved the best until last! While the bidding may have opened at just $20,000, our Frankel x Upside colt goes all the way to the top @mmsnippets weanling, knocked down to Mr Zhang's @YulongInvest for $925,000. 👏🏼🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/0ZppSPkwcS
— Cornerstone Stud (@CornerstoneStud) May 19, 2023
“That was born off the back of when Argentia won as a 2-year-old and I thought, ‘This stallion is going to be really good down here as well as up there’… It’s amazing to think that we’ve been rewarded with a colt like that at that sort of price.
“… Sadly one of our core clients, whose fund is managed by Robert Chapman, former chairman of the Adelaide Crows, sadly passed away. So, we’ve been asked to liquidate all their assets and that’s what forced our hand but fortuitously, it was an absolute Godsend that Frankel keeps on doing it,” Pritchard-Gordon said, adding that Upside has not travelled to the Gold Coast as planned in light of a raised temperature.
Terming Frankel ‘the most prepotent stallion there is,’ Pritchard-Gordon also paid tribute to his team at Cornerstone and was visibly proud to have raised a sale-topper from their South Australian stud.
“It’s seen 100 years of raising top-quality horses,” he said of Cornerstone. “We’ve got probably the smallest broodmare population of any state, and just to think that we continually compete in the top races.
“With our change of direction, moving away from stallions and focussing on top-end broodmares, it’s going to hopefully endorse our future vision as a business.”
