Cracksman has officially been rated as the best horse in Europe following his brilliant performance in the Qipco Champion Stakes.
His mark of 130 puts the John Gosden-trained Frankel colt 2lb ahead of his dual Classic-winning stablemate Enable (128), who also won the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this season.
British Horseracing Authority handicapper Dominic Gardiner-Hill said on www.britishhorsracing.com: “With due respect to his stable companion Enable, and notwithstanding the decisions of the World’s Best Racehorse Ranking Committee which will meet in Hong Kong in December, it is my belief that Cracksman put up the best performance we have seen in Europe this year.
“Visually his seven-length success was extremely impressive. The fact that he ran the fastest final furlong of the afternoon confirms the merit of the performance and I have raised his mark 8lb from 122 to 130.
“Runner-up Poet’s Word previous performance in Ireland looks a solid 119 but I have him running 2lb below that at 117 due to the proximity of French challenger Recoletos (115) in fourth. The latter horse was slightly hampered close home so I actually have him running 114+.”
“Third-placed Highland Reel (pre-race 123) is adjudged to have run 7lb off that level at 116 which is unsurprising given that the testing ground would have been far from ideal for him. I am sure that he will again be seen to better effect once he sets off on his travels.”
He added: “For those that believe this to be a slight on Enable – I believe it is worth pointing out that these figures are a measure of performance rather than a measure of the inherent ability of the horse.
“The truth is that nobody knows how good Enable is; she just keeps winning. By the same token we don’t know the limits of Cracksman’s ability at the present time.
“It is my opinion that the latter’s performance on Saturday was better than her efforts in winning both the King George and the Arc. Do bear in mind, though, that she received the 3lb allowance for fillies in both those races as she would if taking on Cracksman.
“At present it looks as though both will stay in training next year and that should provide the exciting opportunity for us to find out more about both.”