BHA Deputy Head of Handicapping Dominic Gardiner-Hill talks about some of the top horses announced as a result of last Tuesday's World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings press conference
WORLD BEATERS
Last Tuesday saw the culmination of a couple of month’s hard work when the 2009 World Thoroughbred Rankings were published at the annual press conference at BHA headquarters. The year had been heralded as one 'of Exceptional Racehorses' by the 14 man panel, with the mighty Sea The Stars leading the way with an impressive figure of 136, writes Dominic Gardiner-Hill .
The two categories in which I specialise on the committee, the sprinters and the milers, also saw some star performances.
The Hong Kong trained Sacred Kingdom (122) has now been either top or joint top rated sprinter in the world for the last three years - his best performances in 2009 being in the Krisflyer International Sprint in Singapore and in his own back yard when taking the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Sprint.
He had to share top spot this year with Australian trained Scenic Blast whose best effort came when taking the Coolmore Lightning Stakes at Flemington back in January and then blitzing the Europeans in the King's Stand at Royal Ascot.
The European sprinters lagged behind their Australian and Asian counterparts, but did have 'safety in numbers' with top rated Fleeting Spirit, Kingsgate Native, Regal Parade and Total Gallery all being given a mark of 118.
The miling division saw two of the year's best competing. French filly Goldikova put up a scintillating performance of 130 when taking the Jacques Le Marois by 6 lengths at Deauville in August and she finished up as the second highest rated horse in the world on the basis of that performance.
It was one of my great regrets of the season that we didn't see Goldikova and Rip Van Winkle take each other on over a mile. The Irish colt confirmed his rating of 129 from the Eclipse when beating Paco Boy in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and then didn't have to reproduce that level of performance when taking Ascot's QE II later in the campaign.
Interestingly, at the press conference, poor old Rip took a bit of stick for his lofty rating but I firmly believe it is correct and he is unfortunate to have raced in the same season not only as Sea The Stars but Goldikova as well. She pipped him to the crown of World's best miler, a title he would have taken in all bar three of the years since 1994 with a mark of 129.
Let's hope the two of them take each other on at some point in 2010!
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