FORTY Group or Grade 1 winners. That is the latest landmark reached at the weekend for Banstead Manor Stud’s Frankel (Galileo), the uneaten champion on the track who is now firmly ensconced in the pantheon of great sires.

The horse that secured this noteworthy achievement for Frankel is the four-year-old Sir Delius, though he achieved his ‘knighthood’ after he arrived in Australia to join Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. In France he raced as plain old Delius! Bred by David and Trish Brown of Furnace Mill Stud, Sir Delius is out of Whatami (Daylami), and twice made headlines in the Tattersalls sale ring, selling to M.V. Magnier as a foal for 675,000gns, and then as a horse-in-training last October for a sale record 1,300,000gns.