Flightline (Tapit) has been rated as Frankel's equal in the 2022 Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings on Tuesday with the GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner handed 140, while the brilliant Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) ended the year as the world's top-rated turf horse and the second-highest-rated horse in the world after achieving a mark of 135.
Baaeed, who lost his unbeaten record on his final start in the G1 Champion S. at Ascot, secured his rating of 135 when beating Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in the G1 Juddmonte International. No other turf horse has achieved a rating as high since Frankel (GB).
Japanese star Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) and Australian speedster Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}), who lit up Royal Ascot when winning the G1 King's Stand S., finished in joint-third with a rating of 126 apiece.
G1 Coral-Eclipse S. winner Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) also fared well in the overall rankings by finishing alongside Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in a joint-fifth on 125.
Champion stayer Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) finished his season rated just one pound below them on 124, the same mark William Muir and Chris Grassick's battle-hardened globetrotter Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) managed in a joint-eighth spot. Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}, Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), Olympiad (Speightstown), Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) and 2021 Arc hero Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) also finished in joint-eighth.
Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who stole Torquator Tasso's G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe crown at the end of a spellbinding campaign that saw her notch three Group 1 wins in 2022 from as many attempts, earned a rating of 123 for that career highlight.
Overall, 288 horses, trained in 16 different countries, were rated 115 or higher. The full list and further information on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings are available on the IFHA website.
QIPCO Champion S. Named World's Best Turf Race
The G1 QIPCO Champion S. has been ranked the world's highest-rated turf race and the best race in Europe in 2022 in the Longines World's Best Horserace Rankings.
With prize-money of £1.3 million, the Champion S. is also the richest 10-furlong race in Europe and was won last year by the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}). Overall, the Champion S., rated 124.75, was second in the rankings behind the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, run last year at Keeneland and won by Flightline, who was on Tuesday announced as the Longines World's Best Racehorse. His rating of 140 was however achieved from his performance in the GI TVG Pacific Classic S.
The G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, which has previously been named as the world's top-rated race on five occasions in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, was third in the 2022 rankings on 124.25.
European races fared well in the rankings overall, with 13 of the top 30 races being staged in Britain, France or Ireland. Britain had the highest number in the top 30 at nine, with the G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. and G1 Qatar Sussex S. being ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. America and Japan were equal with six apiece in the top 30, while France staged three, Australian and Dubai had two each, and Ireland and Hong Kong held one apiece. Ireland's top-rated race was the G1 Irish Champion S., which was joint-seventh overall with the Queen Anne S.
The list compiled by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) and Longines uses the annual race ratings, the calculations for which are based on the first four finishers in each race. Twelve countries feature among the top 100 races, though a five-way tie for the 100th spot on the means that the list for 2022 consists of 104 races.
Australia was responsible for 20 of the 104 races, followed by Great Britain (18), United States (18), Japan (12), France (10), Hong Kong, China (10), South Africa (5), Ireland (4), United Arab Emirates (4), Canada (1), Germany (1), and Saudi Arabia (1).
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