Frankel's chance to join racing's royalty

Winter of content: Frankel has powered on in recent months while some of his rivals have faded away
Michael Curran13 April 2012

After the wedding comes the coronation and for racing folk a date has been in the diary for many months with Saturday offering the tantalising prospect of greatness unfolding before our eyes.

At the heart of that hope is the belief that Frankel, a powerfully built colt trained by Henry Cecil, might live up to all the hype over the winter by justifying his wickedly cramped odds in the Quipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

At his current price of 1-2, he looks set to start as the shortest priced favourite for the first Classic of the season since the mighty Nijinsky danced home at 4-7 in this great old race back in 1970.

The omens are good. Frankel came through the winter without any setbacks unlike some of his main rivals who have dropped out of the reckoning one by one.

Without Wootton Bassett, Dubai Prince, Dream Ahead and one or two other possible contenders, the opposition is certainly not as strong as it might have been.

Those who will turn up should provide a decent enough test even if Cecil is not exactly shaking in his shoes at the quality of the opposition.

Pathfork, now down to 5-1, is a solid each way shot. Trained by Jessica Harrington, he proved himself the leading juvenile in Ireland by completing a hat-trick in the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at the Curragh.

The form was subsequently given a boost by the success of the runner-up, Casamento, in last October's Racing Post Trophy.

The grey Native Khan, generally a 12-1 shot, was undeniably impressive in landing the Craven Stakes at Newmarket earlier this month.

Yet you sense that only impatience or bad luck can prevent Frankel giving Henry Cecil an extraordinary 25th Classic success.

Precocious and talented in equal measure, he has had star quality from the moment he burst onto the racing scene last summer. Yes, at times, he has been far too keen for his own good, doing his best to wrench the arms of his jockey Tom Queally from their sockets on several occasions.

"The hardest part at Newbury was trying to pull him up after the line", said Queally after Frankel had romped home in the Greenham Stakes on April 16. In the paddock the horse with a huge following was impressively calm but on the course it was a different story when he found the early pace too pedestrian.

One moment he was apparently relaxed. The next he was tanking, restlessly eager go several strides faster than Queally wished.

One day his impatience may cost him dear. Let's hope it is not on Saturday.

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