Frankel destroys closest rivals to delight of Royal Ascot crowd

It certainly found favour with the legendary Sir Henry Cecil, the man lucky enough to train the world’s best racehorse and one of the all-time greats after a scintillating 11-length victory in the Queen Anne Stakes.

“It sounds good,” said racing’s great aristocrat.

Royal Ascot’s record books will show that the Tom Queally-ridden superhorse won the Group One Queen Anne Stakes, the meeting’s curtain-raiser over a straight mile, in a time of one minute 37 seconds – just a few tenths outside the course record on rain-softened ground.

It was Frankel’s 11th successive victory, with Cecil giving every indication that Prince Khalid Abdullah’s horse of a lifetime will finally tackle a mile-and-a-quarter for the first time in York’s Juddmonte International later this summer.

Yet this, and the prohibitively short odds of 1-10 on – punters needed to invest £10 to win a pound – simply fail to do justice to a quite phenomenal performance that the unbeaten Black Caviar, the pride of Australia, will struggle to eclipse on Saturday.

So strongly built, yet so light of foot across the turf, this was a quality field – these were not carthorses that were trailing in Frankel’s wake as Queally turned the race, part of the Qipco British Champions Series, into a regal procession at the three furlong pole when he let out a notch of rein and asked his charge to win his race. From that moment onwards, the contest was over.

The runner-up Excelebration would have been a worthy winner. A Group One winner at Longchamp last autumn who has now amassed £750,000 in career prize money, this was the fifth time in which Aidan O’Brien’s top miler has now chased home the king of racing.

This lopsided rivalry becomes even more profound when the winning margins are studied. Beaten by a mere two-and-a-quarter lengths in the St James’s Palace Stakes 12 months ago, this distance was extended to four lengths in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and then five lengths when the freakish Frankel made his comeback in last month’s Lockinge Stakes at Newbury after an injury scare.

And then there was yesterday’s 11-length demolition.

Given O’Brien’s stable is in the form of its life thanks to the exploits of Triple Crown contender Camelot, Cecil was probably right when he said his white-faced horse – named in honour of American training legend Bobby Frankel – is still improving. The master trainer is not one for unnecessary hyperbole.

Frankel is certainly more relaxed. That was self-evident at Royal Ascot in the preliminaries; perhaps there is method in stable lad Sandeep ‘Sandy’ Gauravaram talking non-stop to the colt about the exploits of his Indian cricket heroes in order to win the trust of his charge. “I’ll talk any nonsense to him – about cricket, give him an Indian song, whatever. But if you stop, oh no he doesn’t like it,” said the groom, a one-time jockey in Hyderabad, with palpable pride.

It is the type of anecdote that explains why Cecil, in his 43rd year as a trainer and with a flourishing stud at Helmsley, North Yorkshire, is keen to talk about ‘Team Frankel’ rather than accept the personal glory.

Equally, he wants racegoers to decide the horse’s place in history, and their own affections, rather than rely upon the statistical ratings which show Frankel to be in a league of his own, despite having to share top billing in a vintage 2012 with Camelot and Black Caviar.

“I don’t see how people can judge generations, different countries, different distances. It’s double Dutch to me,” said Cecil who indicated that his colt will be retired to stud at the end of the year.

“He did exactly what I thought but he’s still improving, Tom said he’s still improving.

“He looks as if he’ll stay a mile-and-a-quarter so we’ll leave our options open.”

That view was backed by Queally who ventured that this victory was even more impressive than last year’s bulldozing run from the front in the 2000 Guineas.

“It looks like he’s improving. He settled, he travelled, he got everything else off the bridle when I was still sitting there – he’s amazing,” said the big-race jockey who still appears slightly uneasy in the limelight.

“That’s his best performance. He ticked all the boxes, he did everything right. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

As for Excelebration, Derby-winning jockey Joseph O’Brien had no complaints.

“For a couple of strides I thought I might get close to him,” said the teenager.

“But as soon as Tom pressed the button, away he went. He’s an exceptional horse.”

Though Cecil was reluctant to confirm Frankel’s plans – he will make a more candid assessment today after checking the horse’s well-being – the trainer gave every indication that the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood will be followed by a day to remember on York’s Knavesmire on August 22.

Extraterrestrial? As always, Sir Peter O’Sullevan is right. Frankel is out of this world – with the best still to come. In short, this horse has to be seen to be believed.

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