The 19th win from our #1 horse, plus Rachel King reigns at Randwick.
In this fourth edition of the Global Rankings Weekly Awards, where we pick a competitor from each of five categories of Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Turf Sire and Dirt Sire whose accomplishment during the last week particularly impressed us for one reason or another, we start by discussing our #1 horse.
Horse of the Week
Ka Ying Rising (#1)
The best horse in the world – and surely he should be recognised officially as such this year – really has only one serious opponent: the clock.
But Old Father Time had no answer when the Hong Kong phenomenon broke the Sha Tin track record once again and won his 19th consecutive race in the Group 2 Sprint Cup.
He added a TRC Computer Race Rating of 131 to his amazing portfolio.
It’s good to have lived in the era of Ka Ying Rising.
Runner-up: Croix Du Nord (#10)
Jockey of the Week
Rachel King (#68 from #120)
This can’t go to #1 James McDonald every week – as we said two weeks ago – even though he added another two Group 1s to his haul.
In any case, Rachel King was arguably a more deserving winner with a terrific treble at Randwick.
The British-born Australian-based rider won the Group 1 ATC Australian Derby on Green Spaces, the Group 2 Chairman’s Quality on Newlook and the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes on Blue Door.
In other words, as a result of one win in each category, she achieved the jockeys equivalent of ‘hitting for the cycle’ in baseball.
King now surges into the world’s top 70 riders and she’s the second-ranked female rider in the world behind Australian world #35 Jamie Melham, who herself won the Group 1 Doncaster Mile on the brilliant Sheza Alibi at the weekend.
Runner-up: Richard Fourie (#29 from #38)
Trainer of the Week
Brad Cox (#6)
The Kentucky-born conditioner saddled a Grade 1 double at Keeneland, one of his local tracks, with Madison Stakes heroine Eclatant and impressive Blue Grass winner Further Ado.
He also added the Grade 3 Commonwealth Handicap there with old war horse Saudi Crown.
Although only third among US trainers behind #2 Bob Baffert and #4 Chad Brown, Cox could easily make a push for the top of his country’s tree in the forthcoming weeks.
He doesn’t miss much when it matters.
Runner-up: Chris Waller (#3)
Turf Sire of the Week
Street Boss (#8 from #11)
The son of Street Cry is nothing if not a modern, cosmopolitan sire. He has shuttled seemingly everywhere to cover mares and seems to own the capacity to get good runners on both dirt and turf.
But it’s on the grass we rate him higher, and this week’s double of the Group 1 Australian Derby (over 2400m) at Randwick and the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes (over 6 ½f) at Santa Anita underlined his pan-global effectiveness through the versatility of his stock.
It’s interesting to note that his own best form as a sprinter came on synthetic all-weather tracks.
Runner-up: Zoustar (#25 from #29)
Dirt Sire of the Week
Gun Runner (#2)
Three more ranking winners for the brilliant 2017 US Horse of the Year has him charging after the sire we consider the best on either surface currently, Into Mischief (who had a double recently, including Grade 1 Madison winner Eclatant).
Gun Runner’s treble was made up of Grade 1 Blue Grass winner Further Ado, Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks heroine Meaning and Grade 3 Gazelle scorer Always A Runner.
Gun Runner’s stock have the deadly combination of tonnes of class and the ability to keep galloping through the line.
We’ve argued for a while that this is a golden era for the top dirt sires.
Runner-up: Into Mischief (#1)
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