Arrogate crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse
Tuesday 23 January 2018 13:41, UK
Arrogate has been crowned the Longines World's Best Racehorse for the second successive year.
Bob Baffert's charge was given a rating of 134 following his three-year-old season in 2016 and was again allotted the same mark for his 2017 campaign, which included victories in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park and the Dubai World Cup at Meydan.
However, he did not win again following that victory in March and signed off with a fifth place behind Gun Runner in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
That rival has been given a mark of 130 following his Del Mar success, with only star Australian mare Winx above him on a mark of 132, with Chris Waller's mare on a 22-race winning streak.
The highest-ranked British runner is Cracksman, who is rated joint-third with Gun Runner on 130 following his seven-length Champion Stakes success. Only Sea The Stars, who was rated 136 back in 2009, has surpassed that performance for a three-year-old 10-furlong turf horse in the last 10 years.
Cracksman's fellow John Gosden inmate Enable is rated 2lb lower on 128, despite five Group One victories that included two Classics, the King George and a stunning success in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Clive Cox's sprint sensation Harry Angel earned a rating of 125 following his July Cup and Haydock Sprint Cup victories, a mark which is second only to the 127-rated Stravinsky in 1999 as a three-year-old turf sprinter in the last 30 years.
Battaash, who won the Prix de l'Abbaye on his final start of the year, is on a perch of 123, while Wesley Ward's American raider Lady Aurelia is rated 122 after her King's Stand Stakes success and near-miss in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
Aidan O'Brien's Classic-winning pair of Churchill (123) and Winter (119) are the leading three-old-milers. Capri (120) and Order Of St George (123) are the top three-year-old and older horse stayers respectively for the master of Ballydoyle.
The rankings, which are compiled by a committee of handicappers and racing officials from across the world, also hailed the achievements of leading Japanese performer Kitasan Black (124) and Puerto Escondido (120), the leading horse in South America.
