Tom Queally: Frankel goes from second gear to fifth gear
Tom Queally was still breathless after Warlu Way won the 10-furlong handicap at Ffos Las.
Having played the waiting game until the final furlong he had then had to ask for maximum effort, both from John Dunlop’s three-year-old – who may not have been entirely forthcoming – and himself.
“He travelled very well and I thought he was going to go and win better than he did,” Queally said, as his lungs returned to normal function. “But he just keeps a bit for himself because he has plenty of ability.”
Queally had his breath taken away, along with 22,000 other people at Ascot on Saturday, and it was not because of the effort it required from the saddle when he rode Frankel to win the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes.
He came to the track with a reputation taller than the grandstand and had simply enhanced with two scintillating moments. First when he moved from last to first in 10 strides rounding the home turn and then when he put 10 lengths between himself the rest of the field. Queally’s role in this had been little more than electing the moment to unleash that ground-devouring stride.
Henry Cecil said that Frankel was the best two-year-old he has had since Wallow, who was winning juvenile prizes in 1975, which was nine years before the jockey was even born. But with nine Group One winners in the last two years Queally has a far idea what sets the best apart from the rest and he has no hesitation into which category he places Frankel. “He’s a h**l of a horse,” Queally said. “He’s so imposing and he just dominates everything he does. Even in a piece of work, he has so much going for him. He’s got plenty of speed.”
Explaining the moment when brushed a field of quality juveniles as if they were a bunch of selling platers, Queally said: “What happened the last day was they went slow and they got strung out as if they were on a gallop. So I went to move him, to get a length closer, and that was it.
“He goes from second gear to fifth gear. He’s just smooth, has plenty of ability, a nice temperament. He can be a bit keen but he’s very, very exciting.”
However, Queally is not keen to get too caught up in the excitement that Frankel has generated with his performance, with some believing that the colt has already won the 2000 Guineas, needing only to arrive at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course next April. There is a long, cold winter to negotiate first and the Irishman knows just how many autumn stars have failed to bloom the following spring. “Let’s just hope he stays safe and sound. It’s all very well saying he’s such and such a price. It’s not just a case of running him in the Guineas. He’s got to get through the winter.”
Richard Hughes is looking no further than getting through the next six weeks as he maintains his pursuit of Paul Hanagan as they both try to win the jockeys’ championship for the first time. With Hanagan not riding, Hughes chipped away at the deficit – 147 winners to 161 – with the victory of Magic Jack in the maiden auction race.
“I should have been playing golf,” Hughes joked. “But I’ve got another job in hand at the moment, but we’re getting there.”
One ride that will not count to his final total will be Youmzain, who will try to go one better than his three second places when he runs in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday. Hughes, who was in the saddle when Youmzain was beaten a head by Dylan Thomas in 2007, reckons this could be an easier field than the seven-year-old has faced before. “I’m looking forward to it – he’s been second enough times and there doesn’t look to be any star this year. Every year he’s run a good star’s beaten him, so he’s got a great chance.”
Two men whose chance s do not look good are Jockey Jason Behan and trainer Eamon Tyrell. The pair have been found in breach of Rule (B)58 and B(59) by the British Horseracing Authority over the running and riding of Casela Park at Newcastle on August 4th.
The BHA Panel disciplinary panel decided that the ride in register@sportpool.co.uk Handicap amounted to "deliberately preventing a horse from winning".
A decision on penalties will follow once the Panel have received representations from both men.
Tyrrell and Behan could both be disqualified from racing for up to five years.
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