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Frankel delivers tour de force in Guineas In a sublime display of speed and power, Prince Khalid Abdullah's homebred FRANKEL (Galileo [Ire]) seized command right from the start of Saturday's Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) at Newmarket and ran his rivals ragged. The undefeated champion stormed more than a dozen lengths clear at one stage, and still held a six-length advantage at the wire, posting one of the largest margins of victory in the 203-year history of the Guineas. The 1-2 favorite, Frankel was sent off at even shorter odds than the immortal Nijinsky II, the 4-7 winner of the 1970 Guineas on his way to English Triple Crown glory. "It was lovely wasn't it?" said his ever-popular trainer Henry Cecil, who was celebrating his 25th career classic success. "It is a relief. Everything has gone right and he is a very, very good horse. It's difficult to compare years, but he's right there with them." Young jockey Tom Queally was savoring his first classic victory, and quite likely the easiest he will ever earn. Queally sat motionless in the saddle for much of the way before getting busy to keep Frankel focused in the final furlong. "The first thing you think is what kind of speed are you going, but on Frankel it feels like a routine canter," Queally marveled. "Then he quickened and lengthened away. It's fantastic." Frankel was expected to rely on Rerouted (Stormy Atlantic), a fellow Abdullah homebred from the Barry Hills yard, as his pacemaker. But when Frankel broke sharply, and his natural speed carried him to the fore effortlessly, Queally opted to let the gifted colt go. Rerouted never looked like staying within striking distance, let alone keeping up, and the would-be pacemaker was rendered no more than a footnote. As Frankel pulled ever farther ahead in a race of his own, Casamento (Shamardal), Roderic O'Connor (Galileo [Ire]) and Pathfork (Distorted Humor) gave chase. Their early exertions took a much fiercer toll on them than on Frankel. They all wilted and faded from view, while Frankel maintained his relentless march all the way to the line. Frankel negotiated the straight "Rowley Mile" on the good-to-firm turf in 1:37 1/5, extending his unbeaten mark to six-for-six. In the modern era, only *Tudor Minstrel was a more dominant Guineas winner, romping by eight lengths in 1947. Native Khan (Azamour [Ire]) and Dubawi Gold (Dubawi) were the only rivals to close within earshot of Frankel's hoofbeats. Dubawi Gold ultimately overtook Native Khan by a half-length for second, but it was another 11 lengths back to fourth-placer Slim Shadey (Val Royal [Fr]), a 200-1 shot. Fury (Invincible Spirit), Happy Today (Gone West), Pathfork, Rerouted, Loving Spirit (Azamour [Ire]), Casamento, Roderic O'Connor, Saamidd (Street Cry [Ire]) and Broox (Xaar) completed the order of finish. "He did it better than I ever thought he'd do it," Queally enthused to Racing Post. "The only thing this horse does is gallop, so why stop him? "The last furlong he was idling. I've never sat on anything like him. It's great to sit on something so great so early in my career. He's unbelievable. There's no words to describe what he did." "We didn't want him to get out of his stride in a muddling pace," Cecil told sportinglife.com, "and I've been teaching him to relax. "When I saw him 10 lengths clear I thought we had done the right thing by letting him stride on, then I wasn't quite sure, but he had fallen asleep in the last furlong. He was waiting for them." Named after the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, the equine Frankel has looked exceptional from the beginning. A cozy debut winner at Newmarket last August, the strapping bay next pulverized his rivals by 13 lengths in a Doncaster conditions event, and by 10 lengths in the Royal Lodge S. (Eng-G2). Frankel clinched champion juvenile honors with a 2 1/4-length decision over Roderic O'Connor in the Dewhurst (Eng-G1), and returned to action with a four-length coup in the April 16 Greenham S. (Eng-G3) at Newbury. Frankel's performance in the Greenham, where he pulled hard early, gave Queally an idea. "When he went to Newbury the other week, I thought he was losing lengths by being pulled around," the rider told sportinglife.com, "and I said to Henry that if I had jumped off and made all the running he would have won a lot more easily. "I was never worried about being so far clear. I knew he would stay the mile and I took them all by surprise. "He was just so much better today than at Newbury -- he made a show of them, didn't he?" With this electrifying spectacle in the first leg of the English Triple Crown, might Frankel now venture for the crown jewel, the June 4 Derby (Eng-G1)? Will he try to carry his speed 1 1/2 miles around Epsom? Cecil is mulling an intermediate step up in trip for the May 12 Dante S. (Eng-G2) over 1 1/4 miles at York. "He is in the Dante, so we'll see how he comes out of this and what we want to do," Cecil said. "Whether he'll get a mile and a half is another matter. "If he's more of a miler, there is the St James's Palace S. ([Eng-G1] at Royal Ascot June 14), so we'll leave all options open. "If he's very well and he ran in the Dante, then we'd know where we're going. I could easily bring him back a couple of furlongs at Ascot. "The main thing is to do the right thing and see how he is, so I'm not saying he'll definitely run."
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