FRANKUUS must be one of the cheapest Frankels to have won a group race. Last Saturday at Chantilly, the colt won the Prix de Conde after being given a precision ride by Ioritz Mendizabal. The Basque often partners horses trained by Mark Johnston, who wins races in France when he has the right horse.

The canny Yorkshire-based Scot was winning his third event across the Channel this season when Frankuus stayed on to defeat the outsider Prinz Hlodowig by a neck, with the partly Coolmore-owned favourite Waldgeist a short-head away third. The fancied German runner High Alpha was a shadow of himself and finished a distant fourth having taken the field of five along until the furlong marker.

Frankuus was bred at the Ballylinch Stud in Co Kilkenny and was picked up by Johnston for just €130,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale last September. It was the trainer’s third success in France this season where he has picked up three races and €123,000, or €152,664 when owner’s premiums are added, after the listed success and two Group 3 places are added thanks to the efforts of French-bred Baileys Showgirl.

Experience certainly played a role in the Conde result as Frankuus was racing for the sixth time and has made solid progress all season. In the absence of Johnston, part owner Ahmad Al Shaikh was the spokesman after the Group 3 win. He reported: “Ioritz Mendizabal believes the colt will stay 10 furlongs so the Criterium de Saint-Cloud is now a possibility, but the Johnston team will decide his future. They have done a terrific job. We bought the colt from the trainer and he has given us a first listed and group success.”