It’s official – Frankel is the best we’ve seen for years!

Frankel with trainer Sir Henry Cecil (far left) and owner Prince Khalid Abdulla after his JLT Lockinge Stakes victory. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

British Horseracing Authority handicapper, Dominic Gardiner-Hill, has this morning confirmed Frankel at a new rating of 138, two pounds higher than last year’s mark of 136, following his brilliant, five-length defeat of Excelebration in Saturday’s JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

Assuming this domestic mark is ratified by Gardiner-Hill’s international colleagues, it will make Frankel the best horse since the modern-day World Thoroughbred Rankings (WTR) came into being when the USA joined them in 1996.

Only Dancing Brave in 1986 can claim a higher European rating of 141, but overall rating levels were dropped a few pounds when the USA joined the WTR so the ratings of these two Prince Khalid Abdulla-owned stars could, in fact, be similar.

Frankel is now on a higher rating than the brilliant French-trained colt, Peintre Celebre (137), who won the 1997 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is scintillating style, and Sea The Stars (136), who carried all before him when winning six consecutive Group 1 races in 2009 from a mile in the 2000 Guineas to a mile and a half in the Investec Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Frankel will now be rated six pounds higher than the second placed horse in the current international rankings, Aussie sprinting superstar Black Caviar (132), who is due to arrive in the UK next month for her first overseas test at Royal Ascot.

While she is due to tackle the Diamond Jubilee Stakes over six furlongs on the final day of the meeting, Saturday 23 June, Frankel is most likely to run in the opening race on the first day, the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday 19 June, which would see him stick to a mile for the time being. 

Rod Street, QIPCO British Champions Series Chief Executive, said: “With Frankel back with a bang and Black Caviar to come, not to mention Camelot, Cirrus des Aigles and many others, never has there been so much to look forward to in British Flat racing over the coming months.

“With Frankel we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness sheer equine brilliance and I hope that we can harness his rapidly growing profile, which helped generate a 40% increase to Newbury’s crowd on Saturday, to widen the appeal of our fantastic sport.”