Frankel’s brother being backed for Nottingham bow

Connections may have attempted to play down the chances of Morpheus, but the half-brother of Frankel has already been backed into 7/4 to make a winning racecourse debut at Nottingham.

The consensus is that although the colt is promising, another winter to fill out and grow may be necessary and a solid three-year-old campaign can be expected.

Despite, these beliefs, this does not rule out a debut victory.

Morpheus is the fourth foal of the family, with Frankel obviously winning on his debut as he remains unbeaten to this day.

Bullet Train was successful on his sole start as a two-year-old and Noble Mission was unfortunate to run into the talented Swedish Sailor.

Frankel is clearly a phenomenon out on his own, but it should not be forgotten that both Bullet Train and Noble Mission ran to a high rating on their debut.

Therefore, Morpheus is almost certain to possess a degree of talent and like all of his siblings, he will begin his career over 1m.

He has the same mother as Frankel, with Kind coming from a former Lincolnshire Oaks winner, although Morpheus is sired by Oasis Dream rather than former Epsom Derby victor Galileo.

Oasis Dream had more of a sprint pedigree and was a dual Group winner over sprint distances, so was clearly no slouch.

Some 11 of Morpheus’ 12 opponents at Nottingham do have the advantage of not being racecourse debutants, with main market rival Tawhid from the Godolphin team having two previous starts.

There seems some decent opposition in the field and 7/4 is certainly short enough for a horse on debut is this calibre of maiden.

However, Frankel’s debut was his only race when not sent off odds-on, he opened at 7/4 also, and punters may not want to miss out here if the same future beckons for Morpheus.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.