Nathaniel (foaled 24 April 2008) is an Irish-bred British-trained

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse. Nathaniel failed to win in two races as a two-year-old but attracted attention by running

Frankel Frankel is the surname of: * Benjamin Frankel (1906–1973), British composer * Bethenny Frankel (born 1970), American chef and reality television personality * Charles Frankel (1917–1975), American philosopher, known for Charles Frankel Prize ...

to half a

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

at Newmarket. At three he recorded his first major win in the

King Edward VII Stakes The King Edward VII Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile 3 furlongs and 211 yards (2,406 met ...

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

and then won Britain's most prestigious all-aged race, the

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot o ...

over the same course and distance. Nathaniel returned in 2012 to win the

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...

on his seasonal debut. Although he failed to win again he was placed in the King George, the

Irish Champion Stakes The Irish Champion Stakes ( Irish: Curadh-Dhuais na hÉireann) is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,01 ...

and the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

before being retired at the end of the year. During his racing career he earned £1,464,688. He made an immediate impact as a breeding stallion, siring the champion filly Enable in his first season at stud.

Background

Nathaniel is a bay colt with a large white

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

, sired by The Derby winner

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, out of the mare Magnificient Style. He was bred in Ireland by Kincorth Investments, a company owned by Lady Rothschild. Nathaniel is a half-brother of the

Fillies' Mile The Fillies' Mile is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is sche ...

winner

Playful Act Playful Act (foaled April 12, 2002 in Ireland) is a Thoroughbred racehorse and the world's most expensive broodmare. Owned and bred by prominent British owner/breeder Robert Sangster, she was sired by the Champion Sire Sadler's Wells, she wa ...

who was purchased in 2007 by

Sheikh Mohammed Sheikh Muhammad (1560–1650) was a Muslim saint-poet who is venerated by Hindus. Sheikh Muhammad or alternatively Sheikh Muhammed, Sheikh Mohammad, Sheikh Mohammed may also refer to (in chronological birth order): * Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wah ...

Darley Stud Darley Stud is located at Dalham Hall, the global breeding operation owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. It is on the outskirts of Newmarket, Suffolk, the interna ...

operation at the

Keeneland Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for it ...

breeding stock sale for a world record price of US$10.5 million. Magnificient Style's other progeny include Echoes in Eternity (

Sun Chariot Stakes The Sun Chariot Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

Great Heavens Great Heavens (foaled 28 April 2009) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2012 Irish Oaks. She is owned by Lady Rothschild and trained by John Gosden. Breeding Great Heavens is the daughter of Galileo, who won The Derby, Irish De ...

(

Irish Oaks The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it i ...

) and Percussionist ( Yorkshire Cup). The colt was named after his owner's son

Nathaniel Philip Rothschild , nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate A ...

. Nathaniel was sent into training with

John Gosden John Harry Martin Gosden (born 30 March 1951) is a British racehorse trainer. He has trained over 3,000 winners worldwide, including winners of the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Derby, the Arc, the King George, the Eclipse, and over 600 winne ...

at his

Clarehaven Stables Clarehaven Stables is a thoroughbred horse racing stable built next to the Bury Road in the horse racing town of Newmarket. It was built early in the 20th century and was bought by the businessman and philanthropist Sir David Robinson in ...

at Newmarket. He was ridden in all of his races by the Norwegian-born jockey

William Buick William Buick (born 22 July 1988) is a Norwegian-British flat jockey. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 with David Probert and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From 2010 to 2014 he w ...

Racing career

2010: two-year-old season

Nathaniel began his two-year-old career on 13 August 2010 in a one-mile maiden race at Newmarket on soft ground, in which he was beaten half a length by Sir Henry Cecil's

, with the pair finishing five lengths clear of their opponents. The race remains the closest of Frankel's career. A month later, Nathaniel started 5/6 favourite for a similar event at

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. He took the lead a furlong from the finish but was caught in the closing stages and beaten a short head by Picture Editor.

2011: three-year-old season

Nathaniel began his three-year-old season by recording his first win when beating two opponents in a maiden race at

Haydock Park Racecourse Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Merseyside, North West England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the racecourse is set in an area of parkland bounded by the towns of Haydock to the west, Ashton-in-Makerfield ...

in April. He won by nine lengths at odds of 1/20. Nathaniel then started 6/4 favourite for the

Chester Vase The Chester Vase is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 63 yards () at Che ...

in May but despite finishing strongly he was beaten a head by the Irish-trained colt Treasure Beach. Nathaniel did not run in The Derby as Gosden felt that the ground at

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

would be too fast for the colt. He appeared instead at

where he won the

"comfortably" by five lengths. Immediately after the race, Gosden indicated that the colt would be aimed at the

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...

. A month later however, Nathaniel returned to Ascot to contest the

over the same distance, after his owners paid a supplementary entry fee of £75,000. He was the only three-year-old in a field which included

St Nicholas Abbey St Nicholas Abbey is located in Saint Peter, Barbados, Saint Peter, Barbados, and is a Plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States#Plantation house, plantation house, museum and rum distillery. Colonel Benjamin Berringer built the hou ...

Workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...

and

Rewilding Rewilding may refer to: *Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state **Rewilding Europe Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organisation based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, working to create rewilded landscapes through ...

. Ridden by

, Nathaniel pulled hard in the early stages and was forced to lead before settling behind the pacemaker

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

. In the straight, Nathaniel accelerated into the lead down the centre of the track and won by two and three quarter lengths from Workforce who had hung badly across to the stands side. St Nicholas Abbey finished third, while Rewilding was fatally injured when falling two furlongs from the finish. Nathaniel was the first three-year-old to win the race for eight years. His trainer John Gosden helped tend to the injured Rewilding, giving the colt a "final munch of grass" before he was euthanised. Gosden said that Nathaniel was still improving and indicated that his next target would probably be the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...

. Shortly before the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Gosden announced that Nathaniel would miss the race as he would be unsuited by the prevailing firm ground. Nathaniel was rerouted to the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

over ten furlongs at Ascot two weeks later. In the most valuable race ever run in Britain, Nathaniel disputed the lead with Ransome Note before taking a clear advantage approaching the straight. He was headed by

So You Think So You Think (foaled 10 November 2006) is a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse, now majority owned by Coolmore Stud of Ireland. So You Think came to prominence through winning the 2009 and 2010 Cox Plates, Australia's premier weight for ag ...

approaching the final furlong and ran on at "one pace" to finish fifth behind

Cirrus des Aigles Cirrus des Aigles (foaled 8 May 2006) is a retired French Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career which lasted from October 2008 until December 2015 he has raced in France, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. After rac ...

, beaten three and a half lengths. At the end of the year, Nathaniel was rated the equal seventh best racehorse in the world in the 2011

World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings The Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (LWBRR), known as World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings (WTRR) before 2012, are horseracing's equivalent to World Rankings by other major sporting organizations such as ATP Tennis Rankings, World Golf R ...

2012: four-year-old season

Nathaniel had respiratory problems in early 2012 and did not make his first appearance of the season until the

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...

on 7 July. Running for the first time in more than eight months, he started 7/2 second favourite in a field which included Monterosso,

Twice Over Twice Over (foaled 16 May 2005) is British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a top-class middle-distance performer whose wins included the Eclipse Stakes, the International Stakes and two runnings of the Champion Stakes. Background Twice Over is ...

, Cityscape (

Dubai Duty Free Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is the company responsible for the duty-free operations at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport. Founded in December 1983, DDF recorded first-year sales of US$20 million and has grown into one ...

), Crackerjack King (

Derby Italiano The Derby Italiano is a Group 2 flat horse race in Italy open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Capannelle over a distance of 2,200 metres (about 1 mile and 3 furlongs), and it is scheduled to take place each year in ...

) and Bonfire (

Dante Stakes The Dante Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards () at ...

). Buick sent Nathaniel past the pacemaker City Style to take the lead on the turn into the straight. In the final quarter mile, Nathaniel held off several challengers to win by half a length from

Farhh Farhh (foaled 4 March 2008) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. His early career was disrupted by injury and he made only one appearance in each of his first two seasons. As a four-year-old he established himself as a top-class performer without ...

with Twice Over third. In the King George, Nathaniel was made 5/2 second favourite to repeat his success of 2011 against a field which included

Dunaden Dunaden (26 February 2006 – 30 April 2019) was a French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 2011 Melbourne Cup, ridden by Christophe Lemaire, trained by Mikel Delzangles. The horse was owned by Sheikh Fahad al Thani and managed by Davi ...

, Masked Marvel,

Danedream Danedream (foaled 7 May 2008) is a German Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2011 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in race record time. She is one of only three German trained horses to win the Arc, the others being Star Appeal in 1975 a ...

Deep Brillante Deep Brillante (Japanese ディープブリランテ foaled 8 May 2009) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed very promising form in 2011 when he won both of his races including the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes. In t ...

Sea Moon Sea Moon (foaled 6 March 2008) is a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He was initially trained in Britain and as a three-year-old in 2011 he won the Great Voltigeur Stakes, was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Turf and finished third in the S ...

and

Reliable Man Reliable Man (foaled 27 March 2008) is a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Initially trained in France, he won two minor races in the spring of 2011 before defeating a strong field to win the Prix du Jockey Club. After losing his unb ...

. Buick tracked the leaders before moving Nathaniel into the lead in the straight. He ran on under pressure, but was caught in the last stride and beaten a nose by Danedream. Gosden described the horse's performance coming only two weeks after the Eclipse as "phenomenal" and mentioned the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

and

International Stakes The International Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards (2, ...

as possible future targets. On his next appearance, Nathaniel started 13/8 favourite for the

Leopardstown Racecourse Leopardstown Racecourse is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 km south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing. Th ...

, despite Gosden warning that the horse was being trained for the Arc de Triomphe and might not be at his peak. He took the lead in the straight but was headed inside the final furlong and beaten one and a quarter lengths by the mare Snow Fairy. Five days before Nathaniel's intended run in the Arc he was found to be running a high temperature and when the results of a blood test were unsatisfactory he was withdrawn from the race. After missing the Arc, Nathaniel ran in the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

on 20 October. The unbeaten Frankel won the race by one and three quarter lengths from Cirrus Des Aigles, who was a further two and a half lengths clear of Nathaniel in third.

Stud career

A week after the Champion Stakes it was announced that Nathaniel would be retired from racing and would begin his stud career in 2013 at the Newsells Park Stud in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. His stud fee was announced to be £20,000 in November 2012. His first crop of foals included The Oaks, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Enable and the success of this crop saw his stud fee increase to £20,000 for the 2018 breeding season.

Notable progeny

''c =

colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

, f =

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...

, g =

gelding A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, makin ...

Pedigree

References

{{King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes Winners 2008 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 9-f King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners