Trainer Henry Cecil has been discussing his thoughts on the campaign of 2010
joint juvenile champion FRANKEL (Galileo [Ire]) as the British season nears.
Khalid Abdullah’s homebred, who was unbeaten at two after taking in the Royal
Lodge S. at Ascot and Newmarket’s Dewhurst S. (Eng-G1), is likely to reappear in
the Greenham S. (Eng-G3) over seven furlongs at Newbury April 16 before a tilt
at the Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) at Newmarket two weeks later.
“I’m still educating him and he wouldn’t have a penalty in the Greenham,
whereas he does in the Craven,” his conditioner told PA Sport in Dubai. “I don’t
trust myself in running a horse in one of the first classics without a race. If
you run them straight into the Guineas after a long winter, you have got to do a
little bit more with them at home, you’ve got to be a little bit tougher with
them.”
Of Frankel’s Derby (Eng-G1) prospects, Cecil seems a bit more optimistic this
spring as compared to how he felt last fall.
“I think last year he was immature in a lot of ways and was inclined to be a
bit free in his work and when he ran,” he offered. “He’s grown and lengthened
and he settles. Mentally he has matured, he’s much more settled and relaxed.
“I worked him on Wednesday to get him ready for his trial in the middle of
April. He was lovely and relaxed. When I asked him to go away he was lolloping
along and not taking hold of his bridle as he was inclined to do last year.
“There is lots of speed on the dam’s side. I can, now (that) he’s maturing,
see him getting a mile and a quarter. Whether he will get a mile and a half, he
will tell us. I’m not going to train him for a Derby if he’s not going to stay,
otherwise you’re missing the boat, you’ve got mile races like the St James’s
Palace S. ([G1] at Royal Ascot June 14) to go for.
“We’ll see what he does in his first two races and assess it. If he looks as
if he’s going to stay, we could let him go for the Dante S. ([Eng-G2] at York
May 11), and you could still bring him back to a mile if you had to. I’ll leave
it open. I go with my horses and they’ll tell me what to do.”