Horse racing: Piggott tells Queally to ride with no fear as Frankel goes for glory INTERVIEW

Tom Queally will have the weight of the racing world on his slender shoulders when he mounts Frankel, the world’s best racehorse, at York.

He will have a nervous final word with connections – and then hope that this horse of a lifetime, unbeaten in 12 starts, is unfazed by the sense of expectation that will have enveloped the tree-lined paddock.

A quietly-spoken individual, he – and four-year-old Frankel – will be galloping into the unknown as they tackle one-and-a-quarter miles for the first time in the £725,000 Juddmonte International, the richest race in York’s history and the latest leg of the Qipco British Champions Series.

If Frankel prevails against a stellar nine-runner line-up that also includes Aidan O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup winner St Nicholas Abbey, it will be because the horse is a machine. If the unthinkable happens, Queally will be blamed. The stakes are that high on racing’s great roller-coaster.

Yet the 27-year-old, who hails from County Waterford, should ride with no fear. Who says so? No great a horseman than the incomparable Lester Piggott, a five-time Juddmonte winner.

He, for one, knows the scale of the task of Frankel. His last International victory 20 years ago on Rodrigo De Triano, at the age of 56 and following one of the most remarkable comebacks in all sport, was the last time that a champion miler had stepped up in trip to conquer Knavesmire’s supreme test.

Piggott is unequivocal in his assessment of today’s race. “Tom knows the horse inside out... I think he will win by five lengths,” said Piggott.

Now 76, ‘The Long Fellow’ was never renowned for rash predictions. His brilliance could be attributed to an uncanny ability to deploy exaggerated hold-up tactics to perfection to negate any doubts about a horse’s suspect stamina. In short, he managed to get horses to win over distances which were longer than ideal – the challenge that now confronts Frankel, Queally and trainer Sir Henry Cecil, who has also been battling cancer.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for Frankel,” explained Piggott. “I wasn’t sure whether Rodrigo would stay because he was only a miler, but it was nice the way he went from last to first. It meant the lot, one of the best wins after I returned racing.

“I’d won the 2000 Guineas on him, just like Frankel last year, but we then ran Rodrigo in the Epsom Derby which wasn’t very clever. It was won by Dr Devious, who we beat at York.

“York is an easy mile-and-a-quarter which will suit Frankel. He’s the best miler I’ve seen since Tudor Minstrel – and that was a long time ago!”

Handsome and powerfully-built, the Fred Darling-trained champion was unbeaten in 1946 – winning four races as a two-year-old – before landing the 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Knights Royal Stakes over one mile. His two races over longer trips, most notably the Epsom Derby, ended in defeat. His rating stands comparison with Brigadier Gerard, who is still regarded as one of Britain’s best horses of all time – despite his shock defeat in the 1972 inaugural running of the International.

It is testament to Piggott’s encyclopaedic memory, and knowledge of the form book, that Tudor Minstrel was pre-eminent before the jockey rode his first winner in 1948 – at the age of 12. “I wouldn’t say Frankel is better than Tudor Minstrel, but I do think he is a better horse this year because he is older and stronger,” he added.

“He’s still a bit free, he pulls a bit, but you will see the best of him at York – I wouldn’t mind the ride if it is going! The best thing is that he’s trained by Sir Henry. He’s so good with horses that he gets the best out of them. It would have been easy to retire Frankel at three than keep him in training.”

Joseph O’Brien, the teenage jockey who won the Epsom Derby on Camelot, is excited about St Nicholas Abbey’s chances as his mounts steps back in trip – the opposite to Frankel.

“It doesn’t get much better than this, taking on Frankel with a horse like St Nicholas Abbey,” said O’Brien. “The drop in trip is a question mark for some, but I’ve never thought of a mile-and-a-quarter being a problem for him. When he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf, he did it with a great turn of foot. The nice ground is what we’ve been waiting for.”

But George Duffield, Yorkshire’s Classic-winning jockey, disagrees.

Now assistant trainer to his wife Ann, he said: “The only person who could get Frankel beaten is Tom Queally and it isn’t going to happen. I would sit on him, sit on him and then rely on his speed at the end.

“He can’t go too soon. Tom did at Ascot last year, he pressed the button four furlongs out, but the horse got him out of trouble. Tom won’t let that happen again. A furlong-and-a-half out, that’s when I think he’ll move. If he did do something silly, St Nicholas Abbey could come and get him.

“Sir Henry wouldn’t be running the horse if he couldn’t stay. That’s why he is so great. Horses seem to tell him, and other trainers like Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien, what do do, not the other way round. But just imagine if Lester was riding Frankel. He’d wait until the last 50 yards – and then pounce.”