At the end of Royal Ascot, Lord Grimthorpe stepped down as racing manager to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte operation after 22 years. During that time he oversaw the careers of some 2,000 horses, including the winners of all five British Classics and the champions Workforce, Kingman and Enable.

But with a shy boss who rarely spoke in public, a trainer, Henry Cecil, who was struggling with cancer and a jockey, Tom Queally, who did not like the limelight, it was as spokesman for all things Frankel that Grimthorpe, 66, was propelled from the backwaters of the parade ring to front of camera.

Given free rein to speak as he felt about Frankel, it was the making of him as a communicator. He essentially became the narrator of the Frankel story. When Prince Khalid died in January, his strike-rate as an owner was a winner from every five runners.

When his predecessor announced he was stepping down, Grimthorpe, then the bloodstock agent Teddy Beckett — he inherited his title in 2003 — expressed an interest in the position and wrote a letter in July 1999. He heard little until the November, when he was summoned to see Prince Khalid.

“I went to London not knowing if I was going to be in a queue of 10 boys in tweed suits outside his door, but when I was introduced, Prince Khalid said, ‘I’m just here to welcome you to the club’. I always reckoned that was a pretty good start to a job interview! Obviously, as racing manager, you don’t have the financial risk, but you live and breathe all the trials and tribulations, just as any owner. I was working for a very smart man and his mantra was always to do the best for the horses.”

His 22 years in the job can be defined as BF and AF. “It’s always Before Frankel or After Frankel. I can still remember the girths being pulled up on him the first time, your heart missed a beat. We had enormous hopes even before he got to Henry.

“He was on the radar of the domestic racing fraternity early on. They knew every time he trod on Newmarket Heath. But when he won the Guineas he stepped out of the racing pages and moved into Red Rum, Nijinsky, Mill Reef territory. When it became
obvious interest was getting to high levels, I talked to Prince Khalid about it. I said: ‘You do realise you are going to have to share this horse (with the public)?’ He replied: ‘Of course, but I want you to do it. Henry is too frail. I want you to take the pressure off.’

“Frankel was the story, his ability, his mind, his will to win; all that was beautifully harnessed by Henry. One of them on their own would have been a fantastic story, but the two together? You’ve got to believe in the stars aligning.”

Thoroughbred ownership is, as Grimthorpe likes to point out, a triumph of hope over experience.
“But every time he took a step it was a forward step, in training, in work. I saw him at every opportunity. I didn’t want to miss out on that.
He took over everyone’s life at Juddmonte.”

Enable was different. “Also a wonderful mind, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be married to her,” Grimthorpe says. “She always wanted to be first; first fed, first pulled out, first trotting, first cantering. If Frankel was about Henry then Enable was about Frankie Dettori, although John (Gosden) did all the work.

“Juddmonte will continue and Prince Khalid’s legacy to racing is two of the most valuable stallions on earth, Kingman and Frankel. It isn’t the end, but it just seemed like a good time for me to stop.”

©Telegraph Media Group Ltd (2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]