Frankel kept his unbeaten record intact in a hard-fought victory in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. The outstanding 2,000 Guineas winner didn't find it plain sailing, the BBC reports. Although the favourite looked to be well on the way to an easy win, the finish was less comfortable than expected as Frankel appeared to tie up in the closing stages. The colt burst into the lead and seemed assured of victory before 20-1 shot Zoffany closed the gap in the final furlong. In the end, Frankel held on to win by three-quarters of a length. The Sir Henry Cecil-trained winner, ridden by Tom Queally, is now unbeaten in seven races. But his lack of pace towards the end of the race will be a worry. After Frankel's stablemate Rerouted had raced into an early lead in the one-mile feature race, Queally allowed his ride to lead from the front, much to the delight of the crowd at Ascot. At that stage an easy victory looked on the cards, before Zoffany and third-place finisher Excelebration made their moves. Frankel held on to secure the Group One prize. Queally maintained the tricky finish was not because the three-year-old was tiring. He said: "He was starting to get a bit fed up of it at the front. "He's more versatile than people think and he's still the one to beat at the moment."
I would hardly call that fantastic - was expecting to see a wonderhorse blitz the field, not just last home. If anything, it has placed serious doubt as to whether he can get any further - definately didn't run like a 2/7. The true fantastic performance of the day was Canford Cliffs - put the greatest miler debate well and truely to bed
TC: Maybe you might think it's been "well and truly put to bed", but he ain't tucked-in yet? He's got to beat Frankel, and maybe So You Think too, before we can eulogize over Canford Cliffs like that. This is hindsight, I know, but Queally went a bit early today, the 5f or even 6f pole would have been better than the 4f pole, that's what will happen next time and, IMHO which I will stick with, nothing will get near Frankel. We'll see!
Why does Henry Cecil embaress himself by saying Frankel was getting bored infront, any idiot could see he was tired, does he realy expect people to buy that excuse! Well done to Frankel on another victory, though Queally needs replacing before they take on the older horses, had Canford Cliffs been in that field I think most would agree he would have gone by Frankel as he tied up, so they can't afford such jockey errors once they take on the older horses
