Read Timeform's analysis of Frankel's stunning performance in the 2000 Guineas of 2011.
A Guineas that will go down in racing history, all because of the phenomenal performance by Frankel, not only for the form he achieved, putting him in the elite bracket of Guineas winners alongside Tudor Minstrel, Brigadier Gerard and Dancing Brave as well as making him one of the very best Flat horses ever in Timeform's experience, but also the way he did it, as rarely if ever has a classic been completely bossed in the manner Frankel did this.
Forcefully ridden, Frankel produced an astonishing exhibition of galloping by which he was at least 10l clear with everything else under pressure at halfway, and the Group 1 winners such as Casamento, Roderic O'Connor and Pathfork who did try and give chase to him around that point all finished out on their feet down the field.
The second and fourth (who was still beaten as much as 17½l) owed their placings largely to time-biding rides, and Native Khan actually did well in the circumstances considering he was fairly prominent in the ruck right through, but the race was all about Frankel and his awesome power and talent, the sectional breakdowns supporting impressions that he was better still than the bare form given how hard he went from such an early stage.
FRANKEL is on the threshold of becoming one of the greatest Flat racehorses in Timeform's history, no other way to put it after a performance in which even the huge rating from the bare facts of the result doesn't do him full justice; it takes something extraordinary to do what he did, shades of Dubai Millennium in the World Cup and Hawk Wing in the Lockinge from recent memory, only that pair were both fully-mature 4-y-os on their landmark day, and comparatively Frankel went harder sooner in his defining race.
In an attacking policy, refreshing to see but needing a special horse to pull it off, he was more or less let loose from the start, rolling along at a speed that looked comfortable to him but none of the others could cope with, to the extent he was well clear by halfway, and just as impressive was the way he kept up the gallop, the outspread field in behind - amongst them several Group 1 winners who had a brief go at pursuit - a testimony to him.
Indeed, breaking it into sectional times as best we could does strongly suggest that Frankel overdid things in the first half of the race, covering the furlongs like a top-notch sprinter, which inevitably told on him late on even though he still won by a clear-cut margin, leading us to believe that he's even better than the bare form of the race; it's hard to see what can stop him over a mile, even in something of a golden age with the likes of Canford Cliffs and Goldikova around, and the suspicion is that Frankel could outrun the best sprinters, too, if given the chance, but that's not on his agenda, nor is the Derby reportedly.
An inherent ebullience, wanting to get on with things, has always been part of his make-up, connections' plan of attack for this big day almost an admission as much, and he won't be asked to stretch to the Derby trip, allowing him to concentrate on what he does best, next stop Royal Ascot for the St James's Palace Stakes and that will be a formality, though it's conceivable he'll be given a try at 1¼m later on, the Juddmonte International the logical race for that.
Right now, though, Frankel has to be lauded and savoured as one of the all-time greats of the sport, potentially the best there has ever been in our experience, and there's plenty of time and opportunity yet for him to prove the point outright; this was a twenty-fifth British classic for Henry Cecil, whose role in the Frankel phenomenon shouldn't be underestimated, the horse produced in immaculate shape for this, notably well conditioned and muscled, and relaxed throughout the extended preliminaries, all enabling him to serve up an explosive performance that will be talked about for years to come, part of the legacy Frankel is creating.
