Posts Tagged ‘flying spur’

The rankings of horses from around the world are updated throughout the year, and can be viewed at the Web site of the IFHA, which maintains historical rankings as well. Click here to see the complete list of 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings.

From a nationalistic point of view, American interests dominated the standings by placing 84 U.S.-trained horses on the list of Northern and Southern Hemisphere runners, aged 3 and up, who were weighted at 115 pounds or higher. That list is headed, of course, by the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin, who was weighted at 130 pounds, equal to the weight assigned the Irish-trained 3-year-old, New Approach. The number of U.S.-trained horses is nearly twice as many as the 43 from Great Britain making the list, but it only stands to reason since there are far more races and graded stakes in the United States than in any other country. Following Great Britain was Australia ,with 36; Japan, 28; France, 27; Ireland, 21; Hong Kong, 13; Germany, 11; United Arab Emirates, 10; South Africa, 6; New Zealand, 3;  Spain, 3; Canada, 2; Brazil, 1; Hungary, 1; Italy, 1; and Turkey, 1.

Not surprisingly, Aidan O’Brien, the young master of Ballydoyle in Ireland, trains the most runners on the list with 14. O’Brien is private trainer for Coolmore’s John Magnier and his associates. Sir Michael Stoute and Saeed bin Suroor were next, with nine each, followed by Robert Frankel, 8, Andre Fabre, 7, and Mike de Kock, with 6.

From a sire standpoint, Coolmore was a dominating force, as the accompanying table shows, led by their trio of the pensioned legend, Sadler’s Wells, along with young stars Galileo and Montjeu, both of whom were sired by Sadler’s Wells. Each of the three was represented by eight horses on the World Rankings. Following that top trio is another stallion associated with Coolmore, Danehill, who shuttled between Australia and Ireland. He has seven horses ranked at 115 pounds or higher for 2008, and also is the sire of two of the others on this list, Flying Spur and Rock of Gibraltar.

The highest American-based sire on the list is the Lane’s End stallion Kingmambo, who is represented by six runners on the World Rankings. Next is Chester House, a son of Mr. Prospector who stood at Juddmonte Farm before his unfortunate and premature death at age 8 in 2003. He was produced by the preeminent broodmare, Toussaud, who died most recently.

The 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings were compiled by the World Rankings Supervisory Committee (a panel of handicappers/racing secretaries affiliated to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities) in Hong Kong in December 2008. The committee comprised :

Nigel Gray (co-chairman)
Hong Kong

Garry O’Gorman (co-chairman)
Ireland

Greg Carpenter
Australia

Gerald Sauque
France

Dominic Gardiner-Hill
Great Britain

Phillip Smith
Great Britain

Harald Siemen
Germany

Marco Rinaldi
Italy

Kazuhito Matano, Dr
Japan

Takahiro Uno
Japan

Dean Nowell
New Zealand

Mike Wanklin
Singapore

Roger Smith
South Africa

Melvin Day
UAE

Tom Robbins
USA

with the following also present as observers :

David Hunter
Australia

Steven Lym
Canada

Bahadir Gur
Turkey

Nigel Gray, co-chairman World Rankings Supervisory Committee
Head of Handicapping and Race Planning, Hong Kong Jockey Club
Telephone +852 2966 8337
Email nigel.c.gray@hkjc.org.hk

Garry O’Gorman, co-chairman World Rankings Supervisory Committee
Senior Flat Handicapper, Irish Turf Club
Telephone +353 5997 26596
Email gaogorman@eircom.net

Tom Robbins, chairman North American Ratings Committee
Vice President (Racing), Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Telephone +1 858 792 4230
Email tomr@dmtc.com