The brilliance, and long-term promise, of Frankel was fully displayed at Newmarket on Saturday when the undefeated colt easily won the English 2000 Guineas, his sixth career win.

Ridden by Tom Queally for trainer Henry Cecil, Frankel took the lead shortly after the start of the one-mile race and opened a sizeable advantage midway through the race. The lead diminished in the final furlong, through an uphill finish, but Frankel still won by a comfortable six lengths.

Frankel seemed to be in his own race throughout the first classic of the British season.

Hours after Prince William married Kate Middleton in central London in a royal wedding that grabbed worldwide attention, a 9-year-old gelding named Royal Wedding won a handicap steeplechase at Fontwell Park in southern England.

Despite an awkward jump two fences from the finish, Royal Wedding won the two-mile, six-furlong Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer Handicap Chase by 12 lengths, returning odds of 4-1. His price drifted from as low as 7-2 to as high as 5-1 in the minutes before the race.

The 8-year-old mare River Jetez may be in the best form of her career, having finished second by less than a length to Presvis in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes on March 26. A length and a half and one place behind her that night came Wigmore Hall, who had the worst racing luck of any horse in the Duty Free. Both horses rate a decent chance in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sunday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong, but local talent Ambitious Dragon, flattered by the result of the Champions Mile last week at Sha Tin, might prove to be a handful.

Frankel may be the shortest-priced favorite in more than 35 years when he starts in Saturday’s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, England.

Apalachee was 4-9 when he finished third in 1974, four years after Nijinsky won at odds of 4-7. As of Thursday, Frankel was available with British bookmakers at odds as short of 4-9 to remain unbeaten in his sixth start.

A win would confirm Frankel’s status as one of the most exceptional 3-year-old milers in England in recent years, and set the tone for the rest of the 2011 European season.

Sarafina, the winner of the 2010 French Oaks who was later third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last fall, will make her first start of 2011 in Saturday’s Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamp in Paris.

Four-year-old Xtension won for just the second time in his career when he rallied from mid-pack behind a slow pace to capture the Group 1, $1.54 million Champions Mile on Monday at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.

Orfevre won his second consecutive stakes in the Japanese 2000 Guineas at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, weaving his way through traffic in early stretch to win the $2.3 million race by three lengths.

Ridden by Kenichi Ikezoe for trainer Yasutoshi Ikee, Orfevre, a 10-1 shot, outfinished Sadamu Patek, the 5-2 favorite in the field of 18. Danon Ballade finished third.

Dick Turpin, looking like a major player in the European mile division, easily won the Group 2 Bet365 Mile on Saturday at Sandown in England.

Stuck down along the inside about a quarter of a mile from the finish, Dick Turpin found room just outside pacesetting Highland Knight. The capable Cityscape loomed on the outside and briefly appeared to be going just as well as Dick Turpin, but the strong race favorite powerfully dashed away under minimal urging from jockey Richard Hughes to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

Fresh off a determined victory in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free, Presvis will try a new trick Monday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong. Typically raced between nine and 10 furlongs, Presvis is the highest-rated horse among 14 entered in the Champions Mile, Presvis’s first start at less than 1 1/8 miles in almost three years.

Presvis hasn’t raced a distance shorter than nine furlongs since July 2008, but his connections believe the 7-year-old’s powerful late kick will fit the lesser trip.

Grand Vent, third in stakes in his last two starts for trainer Andre Fabre, and Genzy, who won his first start of the year on March 28, are two leading contenders in Sunday’s Group 2 Prix Noailles at Longchamp, France.

The Prix Noailles, run over about 1 1/4 miles, is a prep race for the French Derby at Chantilly on June 5. Planteur, who won the 2010 Prix Noailles, later finished second in the French Derby.