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Frankel remains untouchable

Frankel, a British colt who has become known as the Usain Bolt of horse racing, won his first 10-furlong race to complete a run of 13 straight victories when he clinched the International Stakes at York on Wednesday.

Frankel’s previous 12 victories had come over the full mile or seven furlongs and despite his latest triumph, by seven lengths, the Henry Cecil-trained and world’s top-rated horse was nestled towards the back of the field for most of the race.

However much like Jamaican six-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt, he burst into the lead on the home straight, disproving theories that Frankel’s long strides might not cope with the extra quarter-mile.

The step up to the longer race had been compared to Bolt, the 100m and 200m specialist, turning his hand to the 400m. Frankel’s 13^th successive win was also a record eighth consecutive Group One victory, delighting the large crowds bathed in the Yorkshire sunshine.

The 4-year-old colt went out at 1-10, and pulled away with two furlongs remaining to ease to victory by seven lengths in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York race course.

The Henry Cecil-trained Frankel, who has been ridden in all of his races by Tom Queally, is now just one short of 10 Group One victories.

“That was great, wasn’t it?” said Cecil, who is undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. “It’s fantastic.”

Asked how the victory made him feel, Cecil responded: “20 years better.”

Frankel was held up in seventh place at the start of the race before making progress to chase down St. Nicholas Abbey early in the home straight.

He sauntered into the front and swept into a clear lead ahead of Farhh, who finished in second — a nose ahead of St. Nicholas Abbey.

“As we knew before, the winner is in a different class to everything else,” said Farhh’s trainer Saeed bin Suroor. “We have no plans for him, but we will try to find a race without Frankel.”