Tom Queally put himself in the shoes of most of his weighing room colleagues on Wednesday morning by watching Frankel disappear into the distance in a racecourse gallop at Newmarket.
Sir Henry Cecil’s colt, who is very likely to round off his incredible and so-far unbeaten career in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday week, was partnered by his usual work rider Shane Featherstonhaugh on the Rowley Mile.
His race rider Queally set the pace on Midsummer Sun, leading for six furlongs (1200m) of the near-mile (1600m) exercise before Frankel breezed past him and finished more than a dozen lengths clear.
Cecil had taken the world’s top-rated horse for a race day outing to the same track last Saturday week where he was watched by a large crowd, blitzing away from two stablemates before returning to applause in the winner’s enclosure.
“This was more informal. He only had one lead horse this time but he came away nicely clear as he always does,” Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, said.
“Shane was on Frankel, Tom was on Midsummer Sun and everything went very well, it was a good bit of work and we were all very happy. It’s so far, so good.”
Frankel will be performing in front of a very important racing fan on the Berkshire course with confirmation the Queen will be in attendance.
