Pharoah's world title: what the ratings say about the rest of the Americans

A new trophy for the Longines World's Best Horse Race, which was presented at the ceremony in London. It went to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Photo: Longines

The U.S. Triple Crown winner’s coronation in London as undisputed World No.1 during the unveiling of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2015 was surely a moment to rejoice for believers in the enduring stature of the Great American Thoroughbred.

It’s been seven long years since a U.S. runner has earned sufficient respect from the international assessors to capture the world title, and in that case (Curlin in 2008) the crown had to be shared (with Irish colt New Approach). And the figure those two achieved in their highest-rated performances during that season was just 130, a mark that was made to look rather pedestrian alongside those that were to come in more recent seasons.

Indeed, America’s best performers since Curlin have barely registered more than a couple of honourable mentions in these annual end-of-season judgements. The likes of Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra, Blame, Quality Road, Animal Kingdom, I’ll Have Another, Bayern and California Chrome may have lit up the racetracks of North America, but they didn’t make much of an impression on the people with the slide rules from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

There were better horses elsewhere in the world, their calculations told them. Quite a few of them.

The only American who got close was Wise Dan, who was twice given a season’s best figure of 129. The first time that happened (in 2012), it wasn’t in the same zip code as the champion (but then Frankel did register a highest-since-the-ratings began figure of 140 for his remarkable victory in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot that June). The following year, however, it put Wise Dan just one pound behind the joint champions Treve (the French filly who won her first Arc that year) and Australian mare Black Caviar (the highest-rated sprinter of these times, and also the highest-rated female, having achieved 132 in 2011.)

So you’ll see from these stats that American Pharoah has been a long time coming: 

Longines World’s Best Rankings 2008

World champion

Curlin

New Approach

US

Ire

130

Top female

Zarkava

Fra

128

Best Americans

Curlin

Zenyatta

Big Brown

US

130

125

125

2009

World Champion

Sea The Stars

Ire

136

Top female

Goldikova

Fra

130

Best Americans

Zenyatta

Rachel Alexandra

US

128

127

2010

World Champion

Harbinger

UK

135

Top female

Goldikova

Zenyatta

Fra

US

125

125

Best Americans

Blame

Quality Road

US

129

128

2011

World Champion

Frankel

UK

136

Top female

Black Caviar

Aus

132

Best American

Drosselmeyer

US

124

 2012

World Champion

Frankel

UK

140

Top female

Black Caviar

Aus

130

Best Americans

Wise Dan

Fort Larned

I’ll Have Another

US

129

125

125 

2013

World Champion

Black Caviar

Treve

Aus

Fra

130

Top females

Black Caviar

Treve

Aus

Fra

130

Best Americans

Wise Dan

Animal Kingdom

Mucho Macho Man

US

129

125

125

 2014

World Champion

Just A Way

Jap

130

Top female

Treve

Fra

126

Best Americans

Bayern

California Chrome

Game On Dude

Main Sequence

Wise Dan

US

125

124

124

124

124

2015

World Champion

American Pharoah

US

134

Top females

Treve

Fra

126

Best Americans

American Pharoah

Shared Belief

Beholder

Dortmund

Firing Line

Honor Code

US

134

126

123

123

123

123

Of course, the IFHA experts had no choice but to embrace American Pharoah. Here was a magnificent season, a set of towering performances that left no hiding place for any prejudice against dirt form, if indeed there has ever been any. This was a great horse. Everybody everywhere got that.

The big question, however, is: how good is the rest of the U.S. class of 2015? Did they hold their own against the cream of Europe and the growing strength of the Far East and Australia, or does the emergence of American Pharoah temporarily mask a continuing decline?

The answers to those three questions are probably ‘okay’ and ‘more or less’ and ‘hopefully not’.

The chart below lists all horses given a rating of 121 or better in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2015. As it shows, the U.S. has fewer of these highest quality performers than Europe or the Rest of the World, yet these numbers are roughly consistent with top-level horse populations, and it should be noted that the U.S. is the strongest performing individual jurisdiction in the list.

Top Americans

Top Europeans

Top Rest of World

American Pharoah

Shared Belief

Beholder

Dortmund

Firing Line

Honor Code  

Keen Ice    

Liam’s Map

California Chrome

Runhappy

134

126

123

123

123

123

122

122

121

121

Golden Horn (UK)

Treve (Fr)   

Solow (Fr)   

Order Of St George (Ire)

Fascinating Rock (Ire)

Flintshire (Fr)

Free Eagle (Ire)

Jack Hobbs (UK)    

Muhaarar (UK)   

Gleneagles (Ire)

New Bay (Fr)

The Grey Gatsby (UK)

Al Kazeem (UK)

Cirrus Des Aigles (Fr)

Highland Reel (Ire)

Make Believe (Fr)

Postponed (UK)  

130

126

125

124

123

123

123

123

123

122

122

122

121

121

121

121

121

Able Friend (HK)

A Shin Hikari (Jap)

Chautauqua (Aus)

Designs On Rome (HK)

Lankan Rupee (Aus)

Winx (Aus)

Blazing Speed (HK)

Brazen Beau (Aus)

Captain Of All (S Af)

Duramente (Jap)

Lovely Day (Jap)

Maurice (Jap)

Mongolian Khan (Aus)

Prince Bishop (UAE)

125

123

123

123

123

123

121

121

121

121

121

121

121

121

 

Americans will probably shrug off these stats as irrelevant, comforted instead by the Eclipse Awards, the results of which may be less scientifically arrived at but which celebrate a different level of enthusiasm and emotion.

Interestingly, the Longines rankings largely reinforced the decisions of the Eclipse Awards voters. There were three cases, however, where the Eclipse verdicts were well out of step. The first two are entirely understandable:

ECLIPSEAWARDS: MALETURF (Eclipsewinnerincapitals)

Horse

Eclipse votes

Longines rating

Golden Horn

63

130

Flintshire

-

123

Highland Reel

-

121

BIG BLUE KITTEN

134

118

The Pizza Man

41

115

3-YEAR-OLDFILLY (Eclipse winner in capitals)

Horse

Eclipse votes

Longines rating

Found

46

120

STELLAR WIND

108

116

Lovely Maria

-

116

I’m A Chatterbox

47

-

The third, however, is a little more surprising. In London on Tuesday, the late and much-missed Shared Belief was hailed as the joint third best horse in the world in 2015. Admittedly he was out of action from April, but the fact that he failed to attract a single vote in the Older Dirt Male category must surely raise more than a few eyebrows.

OLDERDIRTMALE (Eclipse winner in capitals)

Horse

Eclipse votes

Longines rating

Shared Belief

-

126

HONOR CODE

126

123

Liam’s Map

95

122

Tonalist

14

120

Footnote 1: Obviously American Pharoah represents a high that will never be equalled for Zayat Stables. However it is not the only time their horses have figured in the Longines rankings, as the table below shows:

OTHER ZAYAT HORSES IN THE LONGINES RANKINGS

Horse

Year

Ranking

Bodemeister (2nd, Kentucky Derby)

2012

124

Paynter (2nd, Belmont Stakes)

2012

121

Nehro (2nd, Kentucky Derby)

2011

116

Pioneerof The Nile (2nd, Kentucky Derby)

2009

115

Footnote 2: The ceremony also included an award for the world's highest rated race, taken from a list of 100 races and based on performances in them over the past three years (see picture above). The Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe came out on top, ahead of the Breeders' Cup Classic.  (Full list of races)

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