Excelebration is a decent horse but if he is the 3rd best in the World then we are going through a very lean period. Apart from his début run, every time Frankel isn't against him he has won. But you only have to look at the horses running behind him on those days to query that rating.
After watching yesterday he won so easily but it was made easier by the o brien tactics on excelebration usually held up behind frankel was sent to challenge ! Watch excelebration pick up big mile races frankel doesn't go for. Then that will prove how good frankel really is ! Can he give WFA over 1m2f to Camelot is the only horse within a few lengths is for the WFA
Or how crap the others are? Frankel has proved how good he is, not by beating the same old horses again and again, but by winning a mile race in near record time without being extended. It wasn't as if all the other times on the day were fast yet he clearly could have smashed the record had there been something to race with. He didn't even have a race yesterday.
Excelebration was well clear of Immortal Verse in the QE2 last season, and Immortal Verse beat Goldikova last year.* Excelebration also got closer to Frankel than Canford Cliffs did last season.* Go through Excelebrations form and look at what he would have won had Frankel not been around, he is a very talented horse and worthy of a 130+ rating. He is just unlucky that he was born in the same era as an equine freak *
Didn't Brigadier Gerrard take on the Derby winner Roberto at York over 10F and get beat by 3 lengths?
Im not sure about Excelebration, you cant really argue with what Shergar is saying, but I just dont see him as a real top Group 1 miler tbh, Aiden Obrien will have an idea of how he compares with the likes of Rock Of Gibraltar, George Washington and Henrythenavigator, id be surprised if he thought he was up with them.
He won plenty of G1s over 10 furlongs, plus a King George over 12. The Juddmonte was his only defeat in 16.* It was harder to stay unbeaten back in those days as horses were asked to run more often, and may not have been 100% for every race, were as nowadays horses are given plenty of rest between starts*
Fair comment KS. He ran in the Lockinge, then the Brigadier Gerard Stakes, then the Prince of Wales, then the Eclipse, then the King George. So when he lost against Roberto it was his 6th race in about 17 weeks. Hislop said some rubbish about him coughing up a lot of mucous after the race. Murless observed he looked tired.
It will be every interesting to see who turns up at York for the Judmonte if he runs in it. I'm not going to knock Frankel's form as it's impossible to do so but i'd really like to see him have a decent test over more than a mile. Abdullah deserves credit for stepping him up as he could just mop up all the mile races and not bother taking the risk of extending him. The sport needs owners like him.
Dan - Your username has just reminded me of another great who would have been unbeaten in Europe if it wasn't for Starkey that raced in Frankels colours
Best horse ever until Frankel came along in my opinion TC. I liked Sea the Stars a lot and he was a super horse but there was something about Dancing Brave's wins that just about put him ahead.
If they are seriously considering the Eclipse for Frankel, it is very likely we will see a clash with So You Think. It will be the only opportunity for them to meet as SYT goes into quarantine in August ready to head back to Australia for the breeding season where he is due to stand at AUS$66,000.
That would be a shame. Frankel v SYT over 10f on good racing ground would tell us all we need to know.
They've released the sectional times for the Prince of Wales Stakes (see other thread for link), based on a literal interpration of the time evidence alone Frankel would have been faster than SYT, as he clocked his fastest furlong at around 1 second faster.
I'm not too sure how soft it was yesterday as a few races were only fractionally slow and most were quicker than average today.
I don't think Excelebration is that good. I think he has been flattered by his closeness to Frankel. You could say if Frankel... he would have won... but I think that says more about the lack of class behind Frankel in the mile division. On Excelebration's form with Rio De La Plata in his G1 win, he would have finished fourth in last year's Queen Anne. Frankel's official rating of 140 yesterday would put Excelebration on around 118, that would fit with the above statement and I feel alot more comfortable with that. With Canford Cliffs on 127 that means Frankel has improved around 3lbs from last year's Sussex Stakes. It is also worth noting that Goldikova was rated 130 for her Queen Anne win 2 years ago in a similar time to Frankel's yesterday. So accounting for the little give in the ground and the ease at which Frankel won, rating him 3 1/2 to 5 lengths better than that is about right. (I don't think the Goldikova we saw last season was as good as she had been in previous seasons). You could have probably put atleast half a dozen milers from the past couple of years inbetween Frankel and Excelebration yesterday.
BHA - Frankel still below Brave http://www.google.com/hostednews/uk...eJ_m6EaWOE9RV0jQw?docId=N0402461340196575772A
