1 winner St Nicholas Abbey in third. Most striking, was the dominance Frankel's very high cruising speed gave him, particularly now upped in distance to 10 furlongs. Indeed, TV footage of the aftermath in the Winners' Enclosure, shows Cecil in genuine awe of his equine protégé, running his hands down the horse's back to demonstrate there was hardly a bead of sweat to be found. This was his eighth consecutive European Group 1 victory, breaking the previous record of seven in a row set by Rock of Gibraltar. After the race trainer Sir Henry Cecil said "It's fantastic. It's great for Yorkshire and they deserved to see him." He was attending the racecourse after missing Frankel's previous win due to ill health and said the win made him feel "twenty years better." Writing a few days after the race, Marcus Armytage said: "Forget ratings, handicappers' assessments or any other method by which you measure one racehorse against another, it is unlikely that the world in either this or any previous generation has ever seen a better racehorse than Frankel ... What makes him unique is his ability to go a top class sprinter's pace over distance ... he is a lightning strike of genetics which may not be repeated for 100 years." Frankel was expected to have only one more race in his career, and to stand as a stallion from 2013. Having demonstrated at York his ability comfortably to stay ten furlongs, there was speculation that there might be a change to his programme, with his final race being the twelve furlong (mile and a half) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October. However, on 31 August Lord Grimthorpe said that Frankel's next race would be the Champion Stakes. Champion Stakes On 20 October Frankel won the Champion Stakes at Ascot over ten furlongs. The ground was more testing than he had faced hitherto, being soft, heavy in places, and the colt's participation had been in doubt until Lord Grimthorpe walked the course on the morning of the race and gave the go ahead. In spite of losing several lengths at the start he beat the previous year's victor Cirrus des Aigles by one and three-quarter lengths, with Nathaniel a further two and a half lengths back in third. He had attracted a sell-out crowd of 32,000, who cheered him home from three furlongs out. After the