Four Champions Series races among top ten in world

Enable and Frankie Dettori win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Photo: Racingfotos.com

Four QIPCO British Champions Series races were today named as being among the top ten run anywhere around the globe last year with Cracksman, the emphatic winner of the QIPCO Champion Stakes on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot in October, rated the top horse in Europe.

The announcement was made at the Longines-sponsored World’s Best Racehorse and World’s Best Horse Race Ceremony in London on Tuesday afternoon which saw QIPCO British Champions Series races account for almost a quarter of the world’s top 100 races of 2017.

The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth at Ascot in July, sponsored by QIPCO, was rated the top race in the UK and the second best race in the world in 2017, while the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, and QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot all also made the top ten (jointly rated 7th in the world).

Thrillingly, Cracksman, rated the world’s third best racehorse courtesy of his seven-length demolition of the field in the QIPCO Champion Stakes on Britain’s richest raceday, remains in training in 2018 along with his stable companion Enable (rated 5th).

Her 2017 Series’ triumphs included the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (sponsored by QIPCO), the Investec Oaks and Darley Yorkshire Oaks, before landing the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and there is the exciting prospect of the pair clashing in the 2018 QIPCO British Champions Series.

In addition to the John Gosden-trained pair, a further three horses who lit up the 2017 QIPCO British Champions Series make the world’s top ten, including Ulysses (rated 6th), who won the Coral-Eclipse and subsequently landed the Juddmonte International, together with the Godolphin stars of Harry Angel (rated equal seventh) and victor in the 32Red Sprint Cup and Queen Anne winner, Ribchester (equal ninth) who also make the top ten of the World’s best horses.

Others to have featured prominently both in the QIPCO British Champions Series and the rankings include the Aidan O’Brien trio of Highland Reel, who landed the Prince of Wales’s Stakes; the QIPCO 2000 Guineas winner, Churchill and QIPCO British Champions Day winner, Order Of St George all of whom are rated joint twelfth.

Eleven countries comprise this year’s list of top 100 races, representing the foremost racing events throughout the world across 39 different racecourses.

In total, almost a quarter (24) were QIPCO British Champions Series races, followed by those run in Australia (22), United States (15), Japan (12), Hong Kong (9), France (6), Ireland (4), South Africa (3), United Arab Emirates (3), Germany (2), and Canada (1).