Dual Gr1 Vodacom Durban July winner Do It Again has joined Stradivarius and Too Darn Hot as newcomers on the latest Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.
A son of Twice Over, Do It Again is the first SA-bred galloper to win Africa’s greatest race back-to-back in over a century,and is jointly rated , per 7 July, the 16th best horse in the world – alongside, amongst others, 3yo Hawwaam, who did not run in the July.
Do It Again is rated a 120 internationally – locally he went up from a 125 to a 126 after his cracking victory last Saturday.
Do It Again (Richard Fourie) beats Rainbow Bridge to win the July (Pic – Candiese Marnewick)
At last month’s handicapping workshop held at the NHA HQ at Turffontein, delegates were informed that the NHA handicapping team were lobbying the Asian Pattern Committee to have Do It Again’s parallel international rating upped from the then 118. They will feel some vindication at this point, and in the global scheme of things, the 4yo gelding’s international rating is now probably at a realistic level.
After an impressive performance during Royal Ascot, Crystal Ocean (GB) [127] has taken over as the highest rated horse in the world in the fifth edition of the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2019.
The previous leading trio of Beauty Generation (NZ) [125], City Of Light (USA) [125], and Winx (AUS) [125] is now in second.
Crystal Ocean earned his rating in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr1), where he defeated Magical (IRE) [122] by 1 ¼ lengths. Waldgeist (GB) [122] finished in third. It was the third consecutive victory for Crystal Ocean, who started his season with wins in the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes (G3) and Al Rayyan Stakes (Gr3).
Top class Blue Point
Blue Point (IRE) [124] also left his mark on Royal Ascot, and his rating has increased from 120 to 124. He took both the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr1) and Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) in the same week before being retired. Earlier this year, Blue Point won the Al Quoz Sprint Sponsored by Azizi Developments (Gr1), Meydan Sprint Sponsored by Gulf News (G2), and Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint Sponsored by Arabian Adventures (G3) in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Enable(GB) [123] made the first start of her 2019 campaign a winning one, as she defeated Magical and Regal Beauty (GB) [120] in the Coral-Eclipse (Gr1). In doing so, she joined Pebbles (1985) and Kooyonga (1992) as the only female winners of the race.
