Frankel: The Usain Bolt of horse racing

Frankel and Jamaican Usain Bolt would have plenty to chat about if the former wasn’t a horse.  

The colt and Bolt are both decorated sports stars, number one in their field and very, very fast on the flat.    

Although the term unbeatable is rarely used in sport, Bolt – a three-time Olympic gold medal winner – and the world’s best racehorse Frankel appear to be just that – unbeatable. 

On Tuesday, Frankel lived up to his ranking as the world’s best with an awesome performance to claim his 11th successive win in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Sent off at 1-10, the shortest priced favourite in living memory at the meeting, he sauntered to a breathtaking 11-length triumph. It echoed the way Bolt outruns his rivals continually over the 100m at the Worlds and Olympics.

It was a performance fit for a queen, and was performed in front of one, with Elizabeth II there to officially endorse the new thoroughbred king.

Lap of honour 

The four-year-old colt got Britain’s premier horse racing fixture off to an explosive start. 

Although he didn’t get out of the blocks too fast, Frankel broke through the pack and accelerated to the finishing line, lengths clear of the breathless pack.  

Afterwards Frankel took a leaf out of Bolt’s book by walking along the length of Ascot’s giant grandstand for the benefit of appreciative fans.

With an unbeatable racehorse as difficult to find as an unbeatable Olympic sprinter, the horse is quickly becoming a superstar in the UK. 

Many waved Union Flags as Tom Queally, who rode the horse with confidence, steered the sweatless colt into the winner’s enclosure.

“He has been flawless in the past but I couldn’t have asked for anything more from him today,” Queally said.

“Frankel’s come into people’s hearts now, he’s a national treasure” Trainer Henry Cecil

“He is amazing.”

The horse is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khalid Abdulla and trained by the infamous Henry Cecil, a man who has seen many horses but perhaps never one as indestructible as Frankel.

“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,” said Cecil.

Having outclassed all opposition, Frankel now strives to climb the rungs of the ladder of equine greatness. 

This was his most extravagant winning margin to date ahead of his anticipated step up in distance to one and a quarter miles, probably at York in August.

“Frankel’s come into people’s hearts now, he’s a national treasure,” Cecil told the Britain’s Daily Telegraph.

With every race win, Frankel is pushing the boundaries expected from a racehorse.    

And while Usain Bolt certainly wins the fame game, it would be a much closer call between them in the 100m.