Fabulous racehorse enriched lives of countless people during the time he graced the turf
There is a scene in 1984 when a mass rally against Oceania's historic and deadly enemies from Eurasia is suddenly informed that, in fact, they have had it wrong all along. Eurasia are their allies, it is Eastasia who are the enemy. The crowd scarcely pauses for breath before ripping down all the anti-Eurasia propaganda posted around the square and then carrying on as before.
This is not to imply that the press conference on Tuesday which announced Frankel as the highest-rated horse in turf history had Orwellian overtones, even if the downgrading of Dancing Brave and Shergar among others was described as "recalibration". Criticism was tolerated, and addressed, by the professional handicappers who decide the ratings.
Yet there was a definite sense that history was being rejigged and, as with the mob in Oceania, that it was happening as the result of an unexpected turn of events. It might be a coincidence that the handicappers chose to "grasp the nettle" and revise all the ratings between 1977 and 1991 in the same year that Frankel retired unbeaten. And a happy coincidence too that the revision allowed Frankel to retain his seasonal mark of 140, set in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, and still top the all-time list ahead of Dancing Brave, "recalibrated" from 141 to 138. But even if it is, will anyone believe it?
Frankel probably deserves to be installed as the greatest racehorse we have seen, among those to have acquired a rating at least, but his promotion to the top of the pile also means that several "greats" of the past 35 years are no longer quite so great as they were on Tuesday morning.
The pecking order has changed too. Alleged, formerly rated 140 alongside Shergar and second only to Dancing Brave, is now looking up at a whole series of horses including El Gran Senor, Sea The Stars, Suave Dancer, Generous and Peintre Celebre. Shergar, meanwhile, is now the equal of Generous, who jumps ahead of El Gran Senor.
Of course, this is all a matter of opinion, even if the handicappers' verdict is stamped "official". It makes no difference to the horses, either. Frankel would not have been dumped by any of the mares at stud if he had been rated 1lb below Dancing Brave. Nor are any of those who saw Frankel – or Dancing Brave – likely to revise their view of their relative merits because the ratings tell them to.
Why then does racing bother with "lifetime" ratings at all? Perhaps because they appeal to a basic human desire to find order amid chaos, even if common sense suggests that it is gross oversimplification to attach a single number to a whole season of racing performances. It also gives future generations a target to aim at, and a stick for the rest of us to beat them with if, or when, another horse comes along with pretensions to equivalent greatness.
Now that it has been done once, maybe a new panel of handicappers in 30 years' time will find a reason to "recalibrate" Frankel too, perhaps because racing has found a new, globetrotting champion and Sir Henry Cecil's colt never left his comfort zone in England to test himself abroad.
But no amount of number-juggling will alter the fact that – like Dancing Brave – Frankel was a fabulous racehorse who enriched the lives of countless people in this country and beyond, and that for many the joy of the memory will be rekindled every time one of his sons or daughters sets foot on a track.
Quantify that.
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Guardian