No room for error in Frankel Greenham trial

Henry Cecil’s red-hot Qipco 2000 Guineas favourite Frankel will face a maximum of five rivals on Saturday when he bids to land the Group 3 Totesport.com Greenham Stakes at Newbury on his way to a crack at justifying the immense reputation built up last year when he enjoyed an outstanding juvenile campaign in horse racing Ireland, writes Elliot Slater.

Reports from Warren Place suggest that Frankel has pleased Cecil in his home work and that it will be a major shock if the current 5/6 2000 Guineas favourite is beaten. On paper the biggest danger to Prince Khaled Abdullah’s Galileo colt appears to be Richard Hannon’s Strong Suit, winner of last year’s Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot before failing narrowly to follow up at in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, when coming home a half-length third in a blanket finish behind horse racing tips Zoffany.

Beaten nine-lengths by the other leading colt of last term Dream Ahead when the pair clashed in Newmarket’s Group Middle Park Stakes last autumn, on a line through his conqueror (who was subsequently well beaten by Frankel in the Dewhurst Stakes), Strong Suit has plenty to find and is officially rated 13lbs inferior to the 2000 Guineas favourite.

Also set to tackle Frankel on Saturday is his stable companion Picture Editor (also owned by Abdullah), Hannon’s 95-rated Vanguard Dream, Barry Hills’ Shropshire (rated 94), and the interesting Marco Botti representative Excelebration, winner of a maiden and conditions event at Newmarket last summer, but not seen since.

Anything less than a very solid victory will surely result in bookmakers scenting the chance of getting Frankel beaten on April 30 on the Rowley Mile, but if he goes and wins as many anticipate, he could strengthen further with many firms reporting massive liabilities on the Cecil colt, and could be sent off as short as 4/7 on the big day itself. It should be remembered however that in last year’s Greenham Stakes the hotpot Canford Cliffs was sensationally beaten by stable companion Dick Turpin before going on to prove himself the outstanding three-year-old colt of 2010.