White Birch rated highest in Europe after Tattersalls Gold Cup triumph

White Birch’s commanding victory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh last Sunday has earned him the title of the highest-rated flat horse in Europe.

John Joseph Murphy’s colt was three lengths too good for Aidan O’Brien’s Auguste Rodin, which was good enough to share a rating of 128 with O’Brien’s champion stayer Kyprios.

White Birch finished behind Auguste Rodin in both the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby last season but has looked an improved animal this year.

Timeform Flat editor David Johnson said: “White Birch had been forced to play second fiddle to Auguste Rodin last year, behind him in both the Derby at Epsom and Irish version at the Curragh, but their fortunes as four-year-olds couldn’t be more contrasting and in beating Auguste Rodin by three lengths in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, White Birch earned a new Timeform rating of 128 which sees him rated as the joint-highest in Europe (along with Kyprios).”

White Birch has entries in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot next month and in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in July.

Timeform’s highest-rated horses in Europe:

128 White Birch

128 Kyprios