Poor Excelebration. I mean this is a world class
miler, but with the King around, I can only imagine this horse with an empty
gruel bowl sheepishly going up to the huge presence that is Frankel … “Please,
sir, I want some more.” Oh he’ll get some more, and then some.
What a way for the Royal Ascot meet to get
underway. The world’s top ranked horse will take to the turf soon after the
Royal carriages have signaled the opening of perhaps the most famous race meet on
the planet. A field of eleven will contest the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes as the
14:30 opening race of a fantastic string of contests set to be run at the famed
racecourse, and if you are hoping for anything but a powerful canter down the
straight for another easy victory by Frankel, you will most likely go home
sorely disappointed.
Eleven. That will be the number of pure
perfection tomorrow at Ascot. Ten times the powerful four-year-old son of Galileo
has hit the racetrack, and without exception he has come away a powerful
victor. In his first ten races the only race that made him look close to mortal
came one year ago in the St. James Palace Stakes at, you guessed it, Royal
Ascot. That day, Frankel held on to victory by the tiny margin (for him) of only three-quarters of a length. In the rest of his races, he made mincemeat of the
fields, in some of the most important miles in the world.
So is there any reason at all to think that one
of the other ten horses lining up to face King Frankel can actually compete with,
let alone defeat, him. Chief among his competition tomorrow is the aforementioned four-year-old colt, Excelebration. The winner of six of his last ten starts,
the Aidan O’Brien trained, and Joseph O’Brien ridden colt has had the ultimate
misfortune of running against Frankel in each of those four losses. Poor
Excelebration.
Look
for Frankel to roll home tomorrow in a beautiful opening to the Royal Ascot
meet. Sir Henry Cecil's superstar colt has already proven too good at a flat
mile against anything he will see tomorrow. Bigger challenges may come if and
when Frankel stretches out to distances farther than a mile, but even then, I
would not bet against him.
Enjoy
a regal performance tomorrow at Royal Ascot, racefans, for Frankel is something
very, very special.
