Bobby Frankel, Eclipse Award-winning trainer.
Bobby Frankel is one of only three trainers who cracked the $10-million mark in earnings last year, but look closely at his statistics. He stands apart from fellow earnings leaders Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas because he started about 50% fewer horses than they did and still won 3% more than Lukas and 9% less than Baffert. Frankel's horses averaged $29,216 per start compared with Baffert, whose horses averaged $17,451 per start, and Lukas, whose horses averaged $12,872 per start. Frankel's ability to capture one $2-million race and two $1-million races within a month last summer certainly helped. The streak started with Chester House winning the $2-million Arlington Million (gr. IT) on Aug. 19 at Arlington Park. Frankel then won the $1-million Pacific Classic (gr. I) with Skimming on Aug. 26 at Del Mar before taking the $1-million Atto Mile (Can-IT) with longshot Riviera at Woodbine on Sept. 10. "I don't smile too much, but this keeps me smiling," Frankel said after the Atto Mile. For the year, Frankel started 371 horses that won 96 times, or 26% of their races, and earned $10,839,071. His horses finished in the money 58% of the time. Frankel won 32 stakes races, of which 22 were graded stakes races. Some of his other top runners included Honest Lady, Public Purse, Happyanunoit, and Mash One. Frankel is based in California. He was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1995 and previously won an Eclipse Award for training in 1993. Frankel has trained four Eclipse champions.
