FRANKEL WAS GIVEN the green light to run in what is likely to be his final race the Champion Stakes today after his connections walked the course for a second time.
There had been concerns earlier that the Henry Cecil-trained colt would not be favoured by the ground which was declared officially soft, but heavy in places on the round course.
Frankel, who has won all but one of his 13 races on good going, will have to travel on the round course in the first part of the race. However, Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, told AFP that it was all clear for the great horse to race.
“I walked the course again and it’s fine. He will run,” he said. Persistent rain through the week until yesterday evening has made the going soft with the telling factor it being heavy in places on the round course. Nevertheless the heavy patches will see Frankel entering, as Cecil termed it earlier in the week, ‘no man’s land’.
Frankel, who is officially rated the greatest horse ever in Europe, will face five rivals in the race that is scheduled for 1505 GMT including last year’s winner, the mud-loving French horse Cirrus des Aigles. He will also face, in a nice piece of symmetry, Nathaniel, the horse he beat into second on his first start two years ago – the 1/2 length between them is the closest any of Frankel’s rivals have ever got to him.
Frankel will be aided by his older brother Bullet Train, who will as ever set the pace for him over the distance of 1 1/4 miles, a distance over which he is racing for only the second time.
