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Frost King
Frost King was indeed appropriately named for a horse who would dominate Canadian racing in his day, although the origin of his name was hardly romantic -- it was taken from the brand name of a discarded refrigerator found dumped near the farm of owner-breeder Ted Smith. The big gray rose from being just another youngster at a relatively modest farm to a champion in his native land and a competitor in international racing, along the way becoming one of the most popular horses seen in Ontario in years. The future champion was sired by Ruritania, a good staying son of the brilliant Graustark and a consistent sire of useful turf runners in Canada. His dam, Native Flower, never raced. At the time of Frost King’s birth she had produced three winners, but none of them were of any great account (although one, the filly Cool Flower, would later go on to win a small stakes race). Thus, there was some reason to expect a useful sort of runner from this mating, but no real reason to expect that anything stellar would emerge. Placed in the care of trainer Bill Marko, Frost King proved early that he was something beyond the ordinary. After winning the Winnipeg Futurity and running second in the Vandal Stakes, he took on the best of Canada’s juveniles in the major fall races and came off with honors, winning the Cup and Saucer Stakes and running second in the Coronation Futurity. He did not win the Sovereign Award as Canada’s best juvenile male -- that honor going to Bayford, who had beaten him in the Coronation Futurity – but given his breeding, he had shown plenty of promise for the future. That promise was fulfilled in 1981, when Frost King won the first of his four Sovereign Awards, this as champion three-year-old male. He did not win any of the Canadian Triple Crown series, running third behind Fiddle Dancer Boy in the Queen’s Plate and second behind Social Wizard in the Breeders’ Stakes, but won his championship literally everywhere. Although his base of operations remained in Ontario, he traveled to Northlands Park in Alberta to capture the Canadian Derby, ran second in the Alberta Derby at Stampede Park near Calgary, and finished second to the five-year-old American mare Mairzy Doates in the inaugural Japan Cup (Jpn-I). He also won six stakes at Woodbine: the Plate Trial Stakes, Achievement Handicap, Col. R. S. McLaughlin Stakes, Queenston Stakes, Bunty Lawless Stakes, and Toronto Cup Handicap, defeating his elders in the last two. In a fine display of versatility, his resume showed wins from six to eleven furlongs and on both turf and dirt. The flashy gray reached even greater heights as a four-year-old in 1982, capturing eight stakes events. Seven of his stakes wins were in Canada, where among other events he won the Eclipse Stakes and repeated in the Bunty Lawless, while in the United States he won the National Jockey Club Handicap at Sportsman’s Park and ran third behind Silver Supreme in the grade III Massachusetts Handicap. He did not win any graded events, running second to Bejilla in the Dominion Day Handicap (gr. III) in his only attempt at graded competition besides the Massachusetts, but his consistency and versatility were enough to let him not only take down the crown as Canada’s champion older male but to edge out Queen’s Plate and Travers Stakes (gr. I) winner Runaway Groom as Canadian Horse of the Year. For good measure, Frost King also won the Sovereign Award as champion turf male. Frost King began 1983 looking better than ever. He successfully invaded the United States for the second consecutive year to take the grade III Fayette Handicap at Keeneland and run second in the Michigan Mile and One-Eighth Handicap (gr. II) at Detroit. In his native Canada he traveled just as successfully, winning the Dominion Day Handicap (gr. III) and Eclipse Stakes at Woodbine and the Speed to Spare Handicap at Northlands Park. Unfortunately, he suffered an ankle injury that brought his season to a premature close and was narrowly beaten out as Canada’s champion older male by Travelling Victor, winner of four stakes in British Columbia and second in two grade II events in the United States. Frost King’s ankle injury proved beyond any thoughts of a comeback, and he retired with twenty-six wins, nine seconds, and three thirds from fifty-two starts, good enough for induction into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1986. Twenty-one of his victories were in stakes events, and he captured stakes at distances from six to eleven furlongs. He was the second leading Canadian-bred money winner behind Sunny’s Halo at the time of his retirement with a bankroll of $1,198,014 and the first Canadian-bred runner to represent his country in an international event outside North America. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
