As a result of his powerful performance in the QIPCO Gr1 Champion Stakes on British Champions Day, Cracksman(GB) [130] has equalled Winx (AUS) [130] in the ninth edition of the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2018.
Aussie superstar Winx
Cracksman, who also won the Champion Stakes in 2017, improved his rating from 125 to 130 when he pulled away in this year’s edition to win by six lengths over Crystal Ocean (GB) [126] in his final career start.
Earlier this season, Cracksman won the Investec Gr1 Coronation Cup and the G1 Prix Ganay – Prix de l’Inauguration de ParisLongchamp .
Winx, meanwhile, completed the year by winning the Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1) for a record fourth time. She has now won 29 consecutive races.
But it seems the Aussies are not chuffed about their superstar sharing the honours with Frankel’s champion son.
| The top ten Longines Rankings per 4 November 2018: | |||
| Rank | Horse | Rating | Trained |
| 1 | CRACKSMAN (GB) | 130 | GB |
| 1 | WINX (AUS) | 130 | AUS |
| 3 | GUN RUNNER (USA) | 128 | USA |
| 4 | POET’S WORD (IRE) | 127 | GB |
| 4 | ROARING LION (USA) | 127 | GB |
| 6 | ACCELERATE (USA) | 126 | USA |
| 6 | BEAUTY GENERATION (NZ) | 126 | HK |
| 6 | CRYSTAL OCEAN (GB) | 126 | GB |
| 9 | ENABLE (GB) | 125 | GB |
| 10 | ALPHA CENTAURI (IRE) | 124 | IRE |
| 10 | BATTAASH (IRE) | 124 | GB |
| 10 | JUSTIFY (USA) | 124 | USA |
The Punters. Com website has a dig
They write that our friends at the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings have done it again, denying Winx her place as the outright best horse in the world.
The latest release of the single-performance ratings has seen Cracksman’s Champion Stakes win rated as 130 – the same number given to Winx’s peak performance in 2018 in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in April.
Cracksman (pictured) defeated Crystal Ocean – who sits equal sixth on the rankings with a best rating of 126 – by six lengths in the Gr1 Champion Stakes at Ascot on October 20.
The latest rankings release will no doubt stoke the same fire that raged when UK racing personality Matt Chapman said the general consensus in Europe was Winx wasn’t beating much in her winning streak, which extended to 29 wins with her record-breaking fourth Cox Plate.
Winx having to share the mantle as world’s best is offset by the fact that the ratings gurus still have her as comfortably the best female equine going around.
