Timeform brands incredible Frankel 'best horse on the planet'
It took Australian mare Black Caviar 12 wins from 12 starts and almost two years of racing to be crowned the world's best racehorse, but it took only a tick over 97 seconds for her to be usurped by unbeaten English colt Frankel on Saturday.
Winning for the sixth time from six starts, Frankel turned in one of the greatest performances in the English 2000 Guineas to win the classic and have Europe in raptures.
According to the racecaller at Newmarket, the Henry Cecil-trained Frankel 'led by 15 lengths' at one stage of the first three-year-old classic of the season before winning by six lengths and spreading the field out over an enormous distance.
The fourth placegetter, Slim Shadey, was beaten an extraordinary 171/2 lengths by the winner, who posted the second widest winning margin in the history of the mile race and the biggest since 1947.
Ratings authority Timeform rushed to brand the colt the best horse on the planet and gave the performance a provisional rating of 142 - putting him ahead of the top ratings achieved by the recent 'Horse Of the Century' Sea The Stars (140), champions like Mill Reef (141), Shergar (140) and Dancing Brave (140) and only three points short of the highest-rating horse of all time, Sea Bird II (145).
The bare performance was assessed at 137, but the Timeform analyst at Newmarket said the margin of victory was worth an added five points, placing the colt in the top six horses ever rated by Timeform. The three-year-old is by no means certain to run in the Epsom Derby next month, though Cecil plans to test him as a possible stayer before making a final decision.
Bookmakers were convinced he will head elsewhere, easing his Derby odds out and posting him instead the 1-3 ante-post favourite for the St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
