off the opposition on 15 October as a strong eight-horse field was declared for Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. The runners included Excelebration, the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp winner, the Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques Le Marois winner Immortal Verse and Dick Turpin. The previous year's winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, the Godolphin-trained Poet's Voice, also featured. Frankel won by 4 lengths, with Group 1 winners Excelebration and Immortal Verse filling the minor placings. It was the third time that Excelebration had succumbed to the Cecil-trained star. He was given a Timeform rating of 143 at the end of his three-year-old career, moving him up to fourth in the Timeform all-time flat rating list. 2012: four-year-old season Whilst hitherto Frankel had contested races over no further than a mile (eight furlongs) as a two and three-year-old, his four-year-old campaign was expected to comprise some of the premier ten-furlong middle-distance races in the calendar. In October 2011 Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Prince Khalid Abdulla, mentioned "the Eclipse and the Juddmonte" as potential targets later in the 2012 season, while it was possible that the horse might contest the Breeders' Cup Mile or Classic at Santa Anita as a final career start. Trainer Sir Henry Cecil said in October 2011 that he believed his charge would improve for another winter and that the horse "will get a mile and a quarter very easily". The Newmarket trainer added: "He's really beginning to grow up. You're going to see a better horse next year and he's pretty good as he is." Injury scare Reports surfaced that Frankel had suffered an injury to his off-fore on Wednesday 11 April while working on Racecourse Side in Newmarket. A statement from Juddmonte, the operation of Frankel's owner Khalid Abdullah, read: "He is such an extravagant mover that he hit himself. At this stage the injury looks superficial but he will be kept monitored over the next few days." Frankel had a scan which came up clear but, due to filling in the injury, a scan for the following week was arranged to arrive at a more definitive diagnosis once that filling had dissipated. Before this second scan, rumours sparked by TV reports during coverage of the Grand National at Aintree spread that Frankel had been retired. This claim was rejected by Grimthorpe and, later, the second scan showed no damage. On 25 April, Frankel