English 2000 Guineas winner Frankel will bypass Epsom Derby

Frankel, the brilliant 3-year-old whose win last weekend was rated one of the best ever in the English 2000 Guineas, will be pointed to the St. James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot rather than the Epsom Derby, the Daily Mail in England reported Tuesday.

Confirming what had become increasingly apparent on the heels of Frankel’s front-running Guineas win, trainer Henry Cecil said that running in the derby “would not be doing the right thing” with Frankel.

“At this point, he is telling me not to go a mile and a half,” Cecil said, referring to the Epsom Derby distance.

The St. James Palace is contested at about one mile, a distance at which Frankel already has excelled. Frankel could be stretched out over 1 1/4 miles at some point later in the season.

Cecil and Frankel’s owner-breeder, Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, still have the early betting favorite for the Epsom Derby in World Domination. World Domination won his only start, a maiden race at Newbury, and is slated to race again May 12 in the Dante Stakes at York. World Domination recently bruised a foot, but Teddy Grimthorpe, Juddmonte’s racing manager, said the injury appeared to be of little long-term consequence.