Henry Cecil's impressive Frankel wins 2,000 Guineas

Frankel powers clears of his rivals to win the 2,000 Guineas

The odds-on favourite Frankel justified all the hype to put in a dominant performance and win the 2,000 Guineas.

The talented three-year-old, ridden by Tom Queally and trained by Henry Cecil, raced clear from the start with his pacemaker unable to keep up with him.

The 1-2 chance was able to maintain his devastating speed for a six-length win.

Timeform gave him a rating of 142, a better mark than anything achieved in 2009 by the multiple Group 1 winner and champion three-year-old Sea The Stars.

And the margin of victory - Dubawi Gold (33-1) was second with Native Khan (16-1) third - is the widest achieved in the Newmarket Classic since Tudor Minstrel (1947)

Frankel, who was about a dozen lengths clear approaching the last two furlongs, gave Cecil his first win in the 2,000 Guineas since 1976 and the 25th in all of an illustrious career.

An unbeaten juvenile campaign and a smooth comeback victory in Newbury's Greenham Stakes led to the son of Galileo being sent off as a red-hot favourite.

And he thrilled the Newmarket crowd with a breath-taking performance over the straight mile, though connections must now decide if he is the right horse for the Derby, which is over a mile and a half.

Cecil was non-committal over plans for Epsom in June.

"It was lovely, wasn't it," he said. "He is a very good horse and it is different to compare years and different champions but he must be up with them.

"He settled well and had won his race a long way out but he was waiting to see where everyone else was in the last furlong.

"We'll sit and think about our options now. He's entered in next month's Dante Stakes at York but there are a lot of options open to us. Whether he'll get a mile and a half is another matter.

"If he's more of a miler, there is the St James's Palace Stakes, so we'll leave all options open.

"If he's very well and he ran in the Dante, then we'd know where we're going. I could easily bring him back a couple of furlongs at Ascot.

"We'll leave it all open and it will entirely depend on how the horse is and we'll see what the Prince [owner Prince Khalid Abdulla] wants to do. We want to do the right thing."

Queally, who was celebrating his first Classic win, said: "He was just so much better today than at Newbury. He's made a show of them.

"The one thing this horse does is gallop - I didn't want to disappoint him, I wanted him to do what he enjoys and he showed them.

"The first thing you think is what speed are we going, because to him it feels like a cruising canter. He quickened up and went away."

Bookmakers are happy to take him on if he is headed for the Derby, where the extra half-mile may not be in the colt's favour.

David Williams for Ladbrokes said: "Frankel was devastating in the Guineas, but we're still keen to lay him for the Derby.

"With so many question marks still remaining over his credentials for Epsom we're prepared to take a few more hits at 3-1."