England: Frankel on track to run in Lockinge at Newbury

Undefeated two-time champion Frankel remains on track to make his 4-year-old debut on Saturday at Newbury in the J.T. Lockinge Stakes.

Final entries for the Group 1 Lockinge will be determined Thursday, but Frankel will have no more than eight rivals, since only nine horses were left in the Lockinge at the race’s most recent entry stage.

Frankel injured a foreleg during morning exercise last month, but missed less than a week’s worth of training after the injury was ultimately determined to be superficial. He confirmed his readiness for the Lockinge – long his intended 2012 starting point – with a powerful in-company workout last weekend over the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket.

Frankel has won all nine of his races, five of them at the Group 1 level, though he has yet to race beyond the Lockinge’s one-mile distance.

Among his expected rivals at Newbury is Excelebration, who ranked among the top European milers of 2011 and is set to make his first start since being transferred to the stable of trainer Aidan O’Brien.

◗ The Fugue impressively won the Group 3 Musidora Stakes on Wednesday at York, and with the Musidora being a key prep for the Epsom Oaks, the John Gosden-trained Dansili filly quickly shot to the top of ante-post betting on the June 1 Oaks.

The Fugue won her lone start at 2 and finished fourth of 17 in the English 1,000 Guineas while making her 2012 debut. At the longer 1 1/2-mile distance of Wednesday’s race at York, The Fugue reeled in race favorite Twirl without ever being asked, and went on to a four-length victory.