Legend has it that back in 1995 Bobby Frankel took offense at the rendering of his name on the traditional plaque awarded to freshly minted members of the Thoroughbred racing Hall of Fame. The inscription read “Bobby” instead of “Robert,” which was the way Frankel preferred to be honored, and nobody had bothered to ask. The Hall eventually got it right. Santa Anita management got it right the first time with Saturday’s unveiling of the Robert J. Frankel Stakes for older fillies and mares, at 1 1/8 miles on the grass. The race used to be called the San Gorgonio, which is a name attached to a mountain, a wilderness area, and a high school in San Bernardino; none of those has a particular connection to the history of Santa Anita. Clearly, San Gorgonio was expendable. Frankel, on the other hand, deserves a memorial of some kind. His death in November 2009, at age 68, left a Charlie Whittingham-sized hole in the fabric of the racing community, if only in terms of the Thoroughbred talent he attracted to his stable and the impact his runners had at the very top of the game. Frankel was also a larger-than-life character, ripped from the Brooklyn-tough bowels of a Jimmy Breslin column, who came at the world with a scowling, anti-social demeanor. This, though, was nothing more than a cloaking device for the real Frankel − a compassionate lover of all creatures great and small, known throughout the racing world for his quiet, many times anonymous acts of kindness and generosity. Dottie Ingordo and Ruben Loza were talking about the first running of the Frankel the other day. They will be pulling hard for Harmonious, winner of the Queen Elizabeth Challenge at Keeneland last fall, who is owned by Pam and Marty Wygod. She is trained by John Shirreffs, Dottie’s husband, and Loza runs the Shirreffs barn at Santa Anita while the boss trains across town at Hollywood. Win or lose, Ingordo and Loza belong in the winner’s circle Saturday. As Frankel’s business manager for years, Ingordo has continued as executor of his estate and director of the trust that bears Frankel’s name. Loza, a longtime Frankel assistant, was Bobby’s right-hand man at Saratoga and Belmont. “We know the drill,” Ingordo said. “Entries hadn’t even been taken yet when Ruben and I talked about the race the other day. You never want to get ahead of yourself, but it would be just amazing if Harmonious could win.” And how would Frankel feel about a race now claiming his name? “I think Bobby would have been touched,” Ingordo said. “This was something no one asked for, and those are the kind of gestures he appreciated.” It would have been best to have found a Grade 1 race to carry Frankel’s name − the San Gorgonio is a Grade 2 − but that would be giving too much of a nod to the race-grading racket. Management was wise in making the Frankel an allowance stakes rather than a handicap, since Frankel always railed against the arbitrary assignment of imposts, except for those rare times he agreed with the assessment of a racing secretary. As to the conditions of the Frankel there can be no argument, since there was probably no other trainer who won more 1 1/8-mile stakes races on the grass with fillies and mares. The old San Gorgonio offers plenty of proof. Frankel won seven, beginning with Wandesta in 1996 and including Sixieme Sens (1997), See You Soon (1999), Uncharted Haven (2001), Tates Creek (2003), Megahertz (2004), and Citronnade (2007). He also won the 1973 running of the San Gorgonio Handicap with Extra Hand, but that was when the race was a claiming stakes for older runners and Frankel was a hotshot claiming trainer, turning 7-year-old geldings such as Extra Hand into stakes horses. Thirty-eight years later the race bears his name, which puts him in pretty good company in terms of the tradition-bound Santa Anita stakes schedule. Fending off calls to tinker with titles, management clings to the quaint notion that races named for obscure places like San Pasqual, San Fernando, San Antonio, and San Carlos still mean something, if only because horses like Seabiscuit, Round Table, Native Diver, Ack Ack, Damascus, and Buckpasser won them at one time or another. Naming a race for a person, however, is a big step for a conservative outfit like Santa Anita. No individual is bigger than the game, goes the philosophy. So there is the Strub Stakes, named for the family of track founder Charles Strub. There is the Frank E. Kilroe Mile, named for the executive who lorded over Santa Anita’s golden era of racing. There is the Robert B. Lewis Stakes, named for the owner of such standouts as Silver Charm and Serena’s Song, who personified the game’s vital patronage. And now Frankel. So let’s hear it for the first running of the Robert J. Frankel Stakes and all the quality versions to follow. With or without the race, there’s not much chance Frankel would have been forgotten. For quick reference, he’s all over the Santa Anita Park media guide, including the page where he tops all trainers in the history of the track (Bob Baffert needs about 300 winners to catch him, John Sadler more than 400). Then just for a laugh, check out the history of the Robert J. Frankel Stakes, n é e San Gorgonio. According to the chart, those seven runnings mentioned above – Wandesta, Tates Creek, and the others − were all won by a guy listed there as “Bobby” Frankel.