Royal Ascot's Queen Anne next target for Frankel

Frankel, the unbeaten European superstar, is expected to make his next start in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in England on June 19, trainer Henry Cecil announced on his website on Sunday.

The 4-year-old Frankel won his 2012 debut in Saturday’s Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury Racecourse in England by five lengths.

Frankel is unbeaten in 10 starts.

The Queen Anne Stakes is the top race for older milers at the Royal Ascot meeting.

“Over the last two seasons, he has come on a good deal from his first race, and hopefully he will do the same this season,” Cecil said. “He has strengthened and grown up a great deal mentally. All being well, his next start will be at Ascot in either the Queen Anne or the Prince of Wales, the former being my first preference at the moment, but we will see.”

The Group 1 Princes of Wales Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf will be run on June 20.

Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Frankel won the Lockinge Stakes despite missing 12 days of training last month because of a minor injury.

“I went to check on him this morning and he seemed very well and pleased[with] himself,” Cecil said on Sunday.

The Lockinge was Frankel’s fifth consecutive win in a Group 1 race, a span that includes the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer.