Frankel turned in another spellbinding performance to maintain his unbeaten record in the Queen Anne Stakes, the opening contest of Royal Ascot.

Sir Henry Cecil's colt put an early-season setback behind him to make a brilliant return to action in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month and he was an incredible 1-10 favourite to register his 11th victory from as many starts.

The world's highest-rated racehorse tracked his pacemaker and three-parts brother Bullet Train before taking over the lead three furlongs from home and though old rival Excelebration did his best to stay competitive, Frankel was in a class of his own as he stretched clear under Tom Queally to score by 11 lengths.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Excelebration filled the runner-up spot, his fifth defeat at the hands of Frankel, while Side Glance finished another neck away in third.

Cecil said: "It's a relief, I'm not surprised but relieved. There's no such thing as a certainty. He is a great horse and you've seen him for yourself, so everybody can form their own opinion.

"He did exactly what I thought, but he's still improving, Tom said he's still improving. He looks as if he'll stay a mile and a quarter so we'll leave our options open. He's in the Eclipse, the Sussex, he's in the Juddmonte and the two races at the end of the year. He'll tell me what to do next. It's very unlikely he'll go to the Breeders' Cup."

Queally added: "It was basically what everyone expected, so it's great that he did it. It looks like he's improving. He settled, he travelled, he got everything else off the bridle when I was still sitting there - he's amazing.

"That's his best performance. He ticked all the boxes, he did everything right. From my point of view he's been flawless in the past, but I couldn't have asked for anything more. He had the perfect prep for it, Henry had no complications and we were able to do it nicely."

O'Brien said of the runner-up: "We were delighted with our horse, but Frankel is unbelievable. We'll look at the entries we've made, see how he is and then have a talk about it."

Andrew Balding added of Side Glance: "I'm very pleased with our horse, but I hope Frankel steps up in distance later in the season and if he does we'll come back here for QEII."