Frankel’s place in history secure as Cecil proclaims his wonder horse as best ever

Sir Henry Cecil named Frankel as the greatest racehorse ever after his stable star retired to stud after maintaining his unbeaten record in his 14th and final race. Tom Richmond reports.

SIR Henry Cecil deliberately refrained from hailing Frankel as the greatest racehorse ever until his world-beater had successfully won his 14th – and final – race in a foot perfect career.

Then, with great economy of words, racing’s elder statesman offered this succinct assessment of his now retired world-beater: “I cannot believe in the history of racing that there has ever been a better racehorse.

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“I have enjoyed every moment of training him, although it has been slightly stressful at times. He’s the best that I have ever had and the best that I have ever seen.”

All those who were fortunate to be present at Ascot for an exhilarating Qipco Champion Stakes will concur. So, too, television’s watching millions: never before has there been a horse like Frankel who has been able to dominate Flat racing’s upper echelons for three successive seasons.

Even before the ravages of chemotherapy treatment damaged the 69-year-old Cecil’s vocal chords to the extent that his faltering voice became a whisper, this grandee of the Turf was never a man to make wild claims – he always preferred to leave the pontificating to others.

As ‘three cheers’ for Sir Henry, and then Frankel, echoed around the hallowed Ascot winner’s enclosure as the horse was richly applauded during several laps of honour in the paddock, the Queen was an enchanted spectator from her vantage point in the Royal box.

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Minutes earlier, Her Majesty, her face beaming with delight, waved at both Frankel – and his exultant jockey Tom Queally – as they trotted in front of the packed grandstands after the defining moment of their respective careers, one that will pass horse racing’s ultimate test of time at a canter because of its unparalleled nature and the champion’s electrifying acceleration.

Steeped in Turf racing and breeding, The Queen clearly realised she had witnessed history when Frankel galloped into immortality, repelling the doughty challenge of the resilient French raider Cirrus Des Aigles who won the corresponding race 12 months ago and who is widely regarded as the second-best Flat horse in the world on current ratings.

The centrepiece of Qipco British Champions Day, this victory was never going to be as scintillating as Frankel’s seven-length stroll in York’s Juddmonte International when he was stepped up to a mile and a quarter for the first time – Ascot’s rain-softened going even prompted some concerns about whether the four-year-old would take his place in the select six-runner line-up.

The angst across Cecil’s brow was self-evident an hour before the race as he paced along a hospitality box smoking a cigarette; his nervous disposition dictated this, even though doctors treating him for cancer will have surely been aghast.

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However, any lingering doubts should have been dispelled 35 minutes before the big race when Excelebration powered to an emphatic three-length victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over one mile; this is a supremely consistent horse who has won over £2m in prize money and chased home Frankel on five occasions, most recently at Royal Ascot in June when handed an 11-length drubbing.

Nevertheless, a feeling of apprehension still permeated through Berkshire before a gaunt Cecil helped a pensive-looking Queally aboard the world’s top racehorse in the paddock, horse and rider clapped as they left the standing area to canter to the relative solitude of the start.

Those of a nervous disposition were not immediately comforted when the starting stalls finally opened, the 2-11 odds-on favourite immediately conceding three lengths to his opponents.

For lesser horses, this would have been fatal to their chances. Not Frankel. Within strides, he was settled in fourth; his temperament transformed from both his second career start at Doncaster and the 2000 Guineas of last year when Queally could not settle this thoroughbred.

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It soon became a messy race – Ian Mongan on Frankel’s pacemaker Bullet Train unable to retain the lead and looking for the favourite as Cirrus Des Aigles ploughed through the mud.

In the St James’s Palace Stakes of June 2011, Frankel and Queally took off before the final turn, a tactical error that nearly blemished their unbeaten record.

It was a mistake that they were not to repeat. As Cirrus Des Aigles headed into the home straight, and the gutsy challenge of John Gosden’s Nathaniel faltered, Frankel drew level – and then pulled clear.

This was not a remorseless victory, the runner-up was only repelled after the most valiant of fights, but it did not need to be – Frankel had retained his unbeaten record.

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It was his toughest test yet because of the ground and quality of opposition. In that regard, Frankel had saved his best until last, Cecil gently pointing out: “He was labouring on the ground and not happy on it but he was very relaxed throughout. In the end, he had plenty in hand.”

That Cecil had even managed to turn an equine tearaway into such a mild-mannered creature is testament to an unrivalled training career that has yielded 36 Classics, 114 Group Ones and 75 triumphs at Royal Ascot – Flat racing’s equivalent of the Olympics.

His re-emergence, after training just 12 winners in 2005 when his career hit its lowest ebb, is one of the great comebacks of all sport, not just racing, and is made even more remarkable by his stoicism after cancer claimed his twin brother David and his own fortitude when struck down with first stomach and then chest cancer.

Just like Frankel, his like will never be seen again – a point made eloquently by training luminaries like Ian Balding and Aidan O’Brien.

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Balding trained one of the best middle-distance colts in Mill Reef to win the Eclipse, Derby, King George and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and considers Frankel to be probably the best horse ever.

His only quibble is that the horse did not run over a mile and a half – Flat racing’s signature distance and one of the most important benchmarks of greatness.

“Mill Reef was the horse of a lifetime for me. This fellow is obviously Henry’s horse of a lifetime and he’s had more good horses than anyone,” he said. “You can’t deny that Frankel must be pretty well the best we’ve ever seen. I would say that the other greats like Sea The Stars, Sea-Bird, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard – all of them have won at a mile and a half. It just looked to me at Ascot just maybe he was at the end of his tether. I don’t think he’d have wanted to go much further, especially on that ground.”

As for O’Brien, he tried – and failed – to dethrone Frankel with horses of the calibre of the aforementioned Excelebration and St Nicholas Abbey.

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“It was just incredible,” he said. “Sir Henry has done such a marvellous job with him all the way along. It was great for racing that he ran to show what an unbelievable racehorse he is.”

It is a sentiment shared by us all.

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