St. James’s Stakes 2011 winner Frankel jockey Tom Queally defends himself, Sir Henry Cecil’s plan
Despite winning with Frankel in the St. James’s Palace Stakes, jockey, Tom Queally, got some stick for using tactics, which raised some eyebrows, and, his hasty moves on Frankel.
It was a struggle with the pace maker and it seemed quite premature of Tom Queally to take on his own pace-maker way before he was supposed to.
Tom Queally has ridden Frankel in all his seven starts and was adamant that everybody is failing to realize that he was riding under instructions and he did what he did because Sir Henry Cecil had instructed him.
He defended himself against people, who were waving fingers, and, said that in a race anything could happen but if something extraordinary takes place it’s not because things are out of control but a plan coming together. It was a winning performance at
the St James’s Palace Stakes but despite his heroics the mid-race tactical move got more attention in the news.
The jockey has come out and also said that the horse won and his record is unblemished along with Sir Henry Cecil’s record. According to Tom Queally the instructions were that he was to stay closer to the pace-maker but if Frankel was lagging behind, he
was supposed to inch a little closer so he could take the pace-make over at around the bend and that’s exactly what he did.
Had he lost the race, Tom Queally would have come under serious stick and it’s pretty much debatable that the explanation he has given in his defense could have been different if he had lost the race. Victory none the less and bizarre tactics became part
of the plan but despite all that Frankel was vigilant and he responded to every instruction Tom Queally gave on the field and he was remarkably receptive to the tactical change he had to deal with on the race track.
The three year old bay colt has unreal speed and now he shows versatility on the race track, he is a true find for trainer, Sir Henry Cecil. His win at St. James’s Stakes by three lengths looked not that much compared to his massive win in the Qatar Investment
& Projects Development Holding Co. (QIPCO) 2000 Guineas but he is still holding up. The most talked about horse in the world is keeping other horses at bay at the moment.
Frankel can continue to dominate and keep his record clean in the Sussex Stakes, where he will clash with the Queen Anne Stakes winner, Canford Cliffs, who defeated the champion mare Goldikova.
It is going to be a mouth watering clash but Frankel connections should not underestimate the threat of Canford Cliffs. If there’s one horse, who can threaten Frankel’s unbeaten record, it’s Canford Cliffs, and that’s why the Sussex meet will be all the
more exciting.
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