Unbeaten champion Frankel has been given a provisional Timeform rating of 142 for his comeback win in the Group One Lockinge Stakes.
The four-year-old showed no effects of the injury last month which interrupted his training regime as he powered home to beat Excelebration and take his record to 10 from 10.
His 142 is just 1lb (.5kg) below his highest of 143 which came in the QEII Stakes last year.
“Frankel’s Lockinge performance rating of 142 is the highest in the race since it was upgraded to Group 1 status in 1995, surpassing that of Hawk Wing who ran to 136 when scoring by eleven lengths in 2003, and is backed up by a provisional timefigure in the mid-130s at least,” Timeform handicapper Pat Jupp said.
Frankel still stands 2lb (1kg) below Sea Bird II, the highest-rated Flat horse in Timeform’s history at 145.
Australia’s champion mare Black Caviar has a Timeform rating of 136.
The International Horse Racing Federation’s World Thoroughbred Rankings to April 1 had Frankel on 136 and Black Caviar on 130.
Excelebration had three times finished in the wake of Frankel when in the care of Marco Botti last season, but even the move to Irish supremo Aidan O’Brien failed to squeeze out the necessary improvement as the recent Curragh winner was hopelessly adrift at the line.
Frankel’s trainer Sir Henry Cecil said the Queen Anne Stake (1600m) at Royal Ascot was the next likely target.
“You have to just feel your way as you can’t make up time,” Cecil said.
“You can’t squeeze 10 days’ missed work into the time so you have to try and get him here without flattening him.
“His first race is never his best race but we had to bring him here as he needed a race before Ascot and he has done it very easily.
“He behaved beforehand and there was very little sweating between his legs. He always takes a bit of a hold and is a bit fresh and he had a very good blow afterwards.
“It is lovely for racing and thank goodness that he came through the setback.”
“All being well, he will probably tackle the longer trip (2000m) later in the year but there is no hurry.
“I would think it is more likely he will go the Queen Anne and we will then go from there.
“We have the choice of the Eclipse, Sussex or the Juddmonte after that and we will just see – he will tell me.”
