Legendary English trainer Sir Henry Cecil was a relieved man to see his world class galloper Frankel stride away in the Group 1 £250,000 The Queen Anne Stakes (1 mile) at Royal Ascot yesterday to record his eleventh straight victory.
Frankel recorded his eleventh straight victory in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot - photo © Sarah Ebbett
Jockey Tom Queally had no concerns with Frankel and let the world’s best racehorse stride to an eleven length win over Excelebration and Side Glance.
“I’m not surprised but relieved, no horse is a certainty. He’s a great horse, he did exactly what I thought he would but he’s still improving,” Cecil said.
“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. He’s in the Eclipse, the Sussex, he’s in the Juddmonte and the two races at the end of the year. He’ll tell me what to do next. It’s very unlikely he’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Queally sat Frankel in behind stable mate Bullet Train and let the 1-10 favourite over take the pacemaker at the three furlongs before running away for a decisive win to remain unbeaten and maintain his ranking as the world’s number one galloper.
“He settled and travelled, he’s amazing. That was his best performance, he ticked all the boxes and I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Queally said.
“It was basically what everyone expected, so it’s great that he did it. 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.”
“From my point of view he’s been flawless in the past, but I couldn’t have asked for anything more. He had the perfect prep for it, Henry had no complications and we were able to do it nicely.”
Top Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien said the he was happy with the effort of Excelebration who has now finished second to Frankel in five Group 1 races and is yet to confirm the four year olds next start.
“We were delighted with our horse, but Frankel is unbelievable. We’ll look at the entries we’ve made, see how he is and then have a talk about it,” O’Brien said.
Former Australian trained Helmet who is now prepared by Godolphin’s Mahmood Al Zarooni faded in the run to the line and was clearly outclassed to finish seventh at his first run in England.
