Excelebration, the favourite for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes without the intimidating Frankel in the line-up
Trainer, Aidan O’Brien has finally sighed relief as his four-year-old colt will get the chance to race in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot without getting over shadowed by Frankel. The same card for the Champions Day on 20th October features
the Sir Henry Cecil trained, Frankel, for the possibly final race of his unscratched career.
With no intervention from the Galileo’s colt this time, Excelebration is not only the popular entry for the event, but is also being heavily bet upon. It has been five times that Exceed And Excel’s bay colt has lost graded races against the officially top
rated miler.
Despite the increase in the distance of the challenge the two faced time and again, the margins by which the brilliant colt, Frankel, won became massive too. With the exception of his career debut, the four-year-old trained by Aidan O’Brien, has always won
when not racing against the parasite rival, Frankel.
Even though the bay colt out of, Sun Shower, knew the outcome of racing against the 13 out of 13 unbeaten colt, he did not give up easily. It was the fifth time that had to become the last when the two exceptional colts from the two most significant stables
met each other on the track.
It can be safely stated that whenever the rivalry was instigated between the two, the Owenstown Stud bred remained the second best in the field packed with talent, only after Frankel. His ability to not lose the race without a justified battle for the wire
always set him apart from the rest of the contestants.
Only the Group 1 St James’ Palace Stakes saw Zoffany coming in between the two.
Even if Aidan O’Brien does reconsider the decision after evaluating the performance and benchmark of his under charge, the racing seasons of Frankel have quite decisively come to an end.
He lost the 2011 edition of the race by four lengths from none other than, Frankel, this time however, the field lay out is different with thirteen entries minus the mighty Frankel.
Winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot will become a straight second time for Excelebration to bag a graded success after the Prix Jacques le Marois in France on 12th August.
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