The 2015 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings have been released and Australian gallopers Chautauqua, Winx and Lankan Rupee have all been named in the top ten.
Lankan Rupee is one of three Australian-trained horses that finished 2015 in the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Top 10. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett
Chautauqua suffered a shock defeat in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) at the end of his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign and he did not make the trip to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m), but his impressive victory in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 23 saw him receiving an international rating of 123, which places him equal eight on the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.
The Team Hawkes-trained superstar is joined on a rating figure of 123 by five-time Group 1 winning sprinter Lankan Rupee.
Lankan Rupee was an inconsistent performer during 2015 and he is set to miss the upcoming Autumn Carnival, but he destroyed a quality field to win the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m).
The Aussie duo were denied the title of world’s best sprinter by Hong Kong-based Able Friend, who was awarded a rating of 125 for his remarkable victory in the Group 2 The Premier Bowl (1200m) at Sha Tin on October 25.
The other Australian-trained horse to finish with a rating figure of 125 is star mare Winx, who received the mark for her dominant victory in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 24.
Winx will have the opportunity to better than mark when she contests the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick during The Championships, but she finished 2015 as the equal second highest rated mare in the world behind two-time Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Treve.
There were no surprises when it came to the number one horse on the 2015 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, as American Pharoah added another honour to his already outstanding horse racing resume.
American Pharoah etched his named into history by taking out the Triple Crown, but it was his dominant victory in the Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic (2000m) on October 31 that saw him earn a rating figure of 134.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Golden Horn finished the year in second, while third place was shared between American star Shared Belief and Treve.
Other locally-trained horses that finished the year in the top 100 were:
- Brazen Beau (equal 27th for his Newmarket Handicap win)
- Mongolian Khan (equal 27th for his Caulfield Cup win)
- Criterion (equal 42nd for his Queen Elizabeth Stakes win)
- Turn Me Loose (equal 75th for his Emirates Stakes win)
- Dissident (equal 75th for his All Aged Stakes win)
- Kermadec (equal 75th for his Doncaster Mile win)
- Boban (equal 97th for his Stradbroke Handicap second)
- Complacent (equal 97th for his Chelmsford Stakes win)
- Contributer (equal 97th for his Ranvet Stakes win)
- Delectation (equal 97th for his Darley Classic win)
- Exosphere (equal 97th for his Golden Rose Stakes win)
- Hallowed Crown (equal 97th for his Royal Randwick Guineas win)
- Hartnell (equal 97th for his The BMW win)
- Lucky Hussler (equal 97th for his Toorak Handicap win)
- Volkstok’n’barrell (equal 97th for his Rosehill Guineas win)
- Wandjina (equal 97th for his All Aged Stakes second)
