Fabulous Frankel does it again!

The magnificent Frankel took the Queen Anne Stakes in devastating style at Royal Ascot this afternoon. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

It was a case of Frankel first and the rest nowhere in today’s Royal Ascot opener, the Queen Anne Stakes, the third mile race in the QIPCO British Champions Series.

It was the magnificent colt’s 11th victory in his unbeaten career and he is surely the best horse of the modern era and perhaps of all time.

Poor Excelebration finished behind the world’s highest-rated horse for the fifth time, just holding on for second place ahead of Side Glance.

The winning trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, said: "It’s relief, I’m not surprised but relieved.

"There’s no such thing as a certainty. He is a great horse and you’ve seen him for yourself so everybody can form their own opinion.

"He did exactly what I thought but he’s still improving, Tom said he’s still improving. He looks as if he’ll stay a mile and a quarter so we’ll leave our options open.

"He’s in the Eclipse, he’s in the Sussex, he’s in the Juddmonte and the two races at the end of the year. He’ll tell me what to do next, I don’t tell him.

"It’s very unlikely he’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup."

Queally added: "It was basically what everyone expected, so it’s great that he did it.

"It looks like he’s improving. He settled, he travelled, he got everything else off the bridle when I was still sitting there – he’s amazing.

"That’s his best performance. He ticked all the boxes, he did everything right. From my point of view he’s been flawless in the past but I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

"He had the perfect prep for it, Henry had no complications and we were able to do it nicely."

Aidan O’Brien, Excelebration’s trainer, said: "We were delighted with our horse but Frankel is unbelievable.

"We’ll look at the entries we’ve made, see how he is and then have a talk about it."

Andrew Balding added of Side Glance: "I’m very pleased with our horse but I hope Frankel steps up in distance later in the season and if he does we’ll come back here for QEII."