David Meets World's Best Ever Horse

So David continued on his merry way at Newmarket and soon was at the home of the horse he really wanted to inspect and meet up close and personal - yes none other than the horse dubbed "the world's best ever race horse in thoroughbred history" - Frankel.

It was a huge thrill for David who says that this horse is the most magnificent specimen he has ever set his eyes on.

We thought we would take a moment to remind ourselves of just what an equine superstar this horse is:

Unbeaten in all of his races, Frankel is rated as the greatest ever race horse the world has seen.

Foaled in 2008, he is by Galileo out of Kind, and was trained by Sir Henry Cecil in Newmarket on behalf of his owner/breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah of Juddmonte Farms.

After winning all four of his races as a two-year-old in 2010, including the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, Frankel proved himself by far the best three-year-old of his generation in 2011. His victories included an incredible triumph in the 2000 Guineas - a performance described as “one of the greatest displays on a British racecourse” - and a powerful display in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on the inaugural QIPCO British Champions Day.

Frankel remained in training as a four-year-old, winning his first race, the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, by five lengths in May. He followed up with an amazing performance in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on the first day of Royal Ascot, beating a high class field by 11 lengths after starting as one of the shortest-priced runners in the history of the Royal meeting.

After this scintillating victory, Timeform awarded Frankel a rating of 147 - the highest mark ever given to a racehorse. This puts Frankel ahead of the likes of Sea Bird II (foaled in 1962), Brigadier Gerard (foaled in 1968) and Tudor Minstrel (foaled in 1944), which makes Frankel the greatest horse to have raced in over sixty years of the Sport of Kings according to official ratings.

His third race of 2012 was the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, where Frankel became the first horse in history to win this prestigious race more than once. It was then on to the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York, where Frankel set the record for consecutive wins in European Group 1 races (eight in a row) and won his first race over 10 furlongs by an easy 7 lengths.

On his final career start, Frankel won the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in thrilling style, after which his owner Prince Khalid Abdullah announced that Frankel was to retire to stud, the unbeaten winner of 14 races and the highest rated horse in the world.

Frankel now resides at Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, the European headquarters of Prince Khalid's Juddmonte Farms. He covered his first mares in 2013.

Frankel faced perhaps his greatest test yet on Valentine's Day, when he enjoyed his first encounter with a mare, marking the start of what his team hope will be a £200 million life in stud.

Breeders from around the world have queued up with blue-blooded mares to visit the bay stallion at his new home, Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, his Saudi owner Prince Khalid bin Abdullah's stud just a few miles from the stables where he spent his racing career with Sir Henry Cecil, his trainer.

For each encounter, known as a “cover”, Frankel's fee is £125,000. The plan was, all being well, that he would cover up to three mares a day, becoming the most valuable stallion in history.

Lord Grimthorpe, Prince Khalid's racing manager who has known Frankel since he was a foal, together with the stud managers, carefully monitored which mares made the grade.

He said: “The demand is huge because Frankel is a worldwide phenomenon - as well known in Australia, Japan and America as he is here. But not just any mare can come and see him. We looked carefully at pedigree and the quality of a mare's performance.”

The German mare Danedream, winner of the 2011 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, was served by Frankel, as was the Japanese champion Vodka, and Oatsee, the former racehorse bred in America who is considered among the world's finest broodmares.

Mares booked in to see Frankel are brought to nearby stables where they are monitored daily so that they are presented to him during the optimum period for conception.  Nothing is left to chance. Before their encounter with Frankel, the mares will be “teased” by smaller pony stallions who will interact with the mare to check that she is receptive and in the mood for mating, to avoid Frankel being kicked or injured by a mate who is not in the mood.

The breeding season runs in the Northern Hemisphere from February 14 to July 14, during which Frankel was expected to cover around 135 mares - 35 of which will be Prince Khalid's own horses, the rest visiting from around the world. If a stallion stays healthy, he can breed up to the age of around 20 (or beyond if you look at the case of Zabeel).

“Frankel is fully booked for the next three years,” said Lord Grimthorpe. “Hopefully he has at least another 15 years in him.”

To enable Frankel to adapt from the life of a racehorse to that of a stud stallion, his daily routine has been carefully adjusted to a gentle regime of indulged bliss.  At the peak of his racing career, his exercise regime consisted of a full pace gallop twice a week and a steady canter on another two days.

Now, Frankel, who stands at just over 16 hands high, is no longer ridden, but led at a gentle walk for up to seven miles a day around the bucolic splendour of Banstead.  His diet has also changed from 23lbs of oats a day - the equivalent of 600 Weetabix which provided the high octane fuel he needed to race - to a lower-protein diet including a combination of oats and stallion mix, which includes molasses, maize and peas.

Lord Grimthorpe said: “He has a more sedentary life now but will still need a lot of energy in the next few months, to say the least.”

His stablemates include the tried and tested stallions Dansili, Oasis Dream and Bated Breath, nicknamed “the boys”. The cost of an encounter with less highly-rated members of the stud range from £5,000 to £85,000.

Lord Grimthorpe said: “The horses will undoubtedly communicate and the other stallions will have told him 'it isn't a bad life mate'.  It is unlikely there will ever be another Frankel, he is so rare. But I very much hope he will be producing top class horses for years to come.”