Winx, the Australian mare who took her winning streak to 29 races with a record fourth success in the Cox Plate in October, was named the World’s Best Racehorse for the first time in her career at a ceremony in London on Wednesday.
She took only a share of the prize, however, as Cracksman, John Gosden’s Champion Stakes winner, was rated alongside Winx on a mark of 130, with Accelerate, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, third on the list with a rating of 128.
The annual ratings are an attempt to sum up a horse’s season – and sometimes an entire career – in a single number and as such can often provoke more arguments than are settled.
Few would deny Winx’s talent, consistency and durability – she added another seven Group One wins to her record in 2018 – have earned her a place at the top of the pile. She is top-rated, though, alongside a horse who was below his best for much of the campaign but then produced a single, exceptional performance to win the Champion Stakes by six lengths.
Does Winx’s consistency at Group One level count for nothing? Apparently not. Should it? Most of her huge army of supporters would say yes.
European fans could argue this is far from the biggest puzzle raised by the ratings, which place Enable, the only Arc winner ever to follow up at the Breeders’ Cup, joint-eighth on 125 among 2018’s best Flat performers. That puts her behind horses including Gun Runner, whose one-race campaign ended in January after his win in the Pegasus Cup.
The mystery deepens when you consider the Arc, in which Enable edged out Sea Of Class, was named the best race in the world last year. Its winner, though, is officially the third-best horse in the Gosden yard after Cracksman and the prolific Roaring Lion.
Enable’s “problem” in ratings terms is that she won the Arc and the Breeders’ Cup Turf by less than a length and, unlike Cracksman, did not put up a single, emphatic win to boost her mark towards, or beyond, 130. She will hopefully have a chance to do so in 2019, when she will remain in training with an unprecedented third straight win in the Arc as her principal target.
Wetherby
12.35 Qawamees 1.05 Briac (nap) 1.35 Follow The Swallow 2.10 Aquarian 2.45 Oliver’s Island
3.20 Manwell 3.55 Captain Moirette
Fakenham
12.55 Red Royalist 1.25 Vaxalco 2.00 Lygon Rock
2.35 Dream Baie 3.10 Gettysburg Address
3.45 Cottonvale (nb)
Southwell
1.15 Handsome Bob 1.45 Hanati 2.20 Foolaad
2.55 Temur Khan 3.30 Whenapoet 4.05 Gabrials Centurion
Chelmsford
4.25 Mystical Moon 4.55 Pacificadora 5.25 Glenn Coco 5.55 How Far 6.25 Distant Applause 6.55 Dahawi
7.25 Colwood 7.55 Elenora Delight