Frankel could step up in trip to 10 furlongs (2000m) on the inaugural British Champions Day at Ascot in October after connections described a crack at York’s Juddmonte International as “probably unlikely”.
Henry Cecil’s brilliant three-year-old is gearing up for a mouthwatering clash with Canford Cliffs, generally regarded as the best older miler in training, in the Sussex Stakes at the upcoming Glorious Goodwood meeting.
While Frankel’s owner Khalid Abdullah would dearly love to win the York race he sponsors through his Juddmonte breeding operation, his racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe believes Ascot could provide a better option to whether the colt stays at a mile (1600m) or moves up in distance.
“He worked really well on Wednesday and looks in really good form,” Grimthorpe said on At The Races.
“I wouldn’t have thought he’d go to the Breeders’ Cup. I would think he’ll probably end up at Ascot on Champions Day in either the mile (QEII) or the mile-and-a-quarter (2000m, Champion Stakes) race.
“Whether he’d go to the Juddmonte after the Sussex would be debatable just three weeks after, as much as we’d all love that, so it would would be up to Henry how he reached either the QEII or the Champion Stakes.
“There is a chance (he could run in the Juddmonte) but it’s probably unlikely. We could be looking to go that way but whether the Juddmonte will come too soon, we’ll have to judge.”
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