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45.
The Rock Is
Worlds Best
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17/01/2003 |
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Northerly
has been rated four pounds inferior to Rock Of Gibraltar as the world’s best
racehorse in the 2002 International Classifications.
The international panel of handicappers handed Rock Of Gibraltar a rating of 128
pounds with Northerly the top rated Australian performer at 124, two pounds
higher than his 2001 rating.
Irish-trained three-year-old Rock Of Gibraltar was the top-ranked horse on both
turf and dirt as a result of his record-breaking sequence of seven successive
Group One victories.
However his 128 rating is below the highweight average for the past 10 years,
comparing poorly with previous four topweights Sakhee (133), Dubai Millennium
(134), Daylami (135) and Intikhab.
Handicappers from Britain, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Japan, North
America, Australia and New Zealand ranked horses in order of ability on their
performances during the 2002 calendar year.
The classifications reflect a horse's peak performance for a specific period and
distance and can vary from current domestic handicap ratings.
Northerly’s mark of 124 is equal to the assessment awarded to Might And Power
in 1998, the first year Australasian horses appeared in the International
Classifications.
This year there are 28 Australasian horses listed in the classifications that
cover all age groups in different distance categories with the Melbourne Cup and
W.S. Cox Plate carrying the most weight with the handicapping panel.
The leading older turf horse with 127 rating is Marienbard, the Godolphin stayer
who finished seventh in the 2001 Melbourne Cup.
His form improved dramatically in 2002 to include two G1 victories in Germany
before winning Europe’s greatest wfa event, the G1 Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe
at Longchamp.
Grandera, beaten by Northerly in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, was awarded a
126 rating for his five lengths victory in the G1 Prince Of Wales Stakes at
Royal Ascot and other G1 victories in Singapore and Ireland.
Grandera was equal second in the classifications with classic winners High
Chapparral, Sulamani and the older G1 winners Golan and Keltos.
Other significant ratings among Australasian horses were acheived by Defier
(120), Sunline (119), Shogun Lodge (118), Lonhro (117) and dual G1 winning
sprinter Rubitano (116).
Our highest rated three-year-old ratings were 113 for Mistegic and North Boy
(autumn) and Bel Esprit, who achieved the same rating in the spring.
The highest rating for a dirt horse in 2002 was 125 for Breedres Cup Classic
winner Volponi, one pound ahead of War Emblem, Street Cry and Orientate.
The top rating mare on turf and dirt is the US champion Azeri on 125.
Story By Chris Scholtz
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