The world’s best Flat racehorses 2020
Ghaiyyath is the world’s best Flat racehorse in the Longines World Racing Awards after a 2020 campaign which saw him win three Group 1s
Owned by Godolphin, Ghaiyyath (pictured), the son of Dubawi, was an overwhelming winner of the Coronation Cup at Epsom in June before getting the better of Enable in a thrilling Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.
He then got the better of star mare Magical, Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Lord North and 2000 Guineas victor Kameko, in the Juddmonte International at York.
His three-length win was rated the finest of Ghaiyyath’s career, and the race was awarded the highest-rated contest of 2020.
Ghaiyyath’s only defeat of 2020 came when Magical overturned the York placings in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September.
In being crowned top racehorse, Ghaiyyath also headed the four-year-old and older and middle-distance categories.
Trainer Charlie Appleby said: “It’s a much-deserved award, given what he did this summer.
“He wore his heart on his sleeve, and for me and the team he brightened this summer up in what we know was a testing season.
“I’ve been fortunate over the last couple of years to have him over 10 and 12 furlongs and then Blue Point over five furlongs, and both were at their best at the age of five, which is all thanks to Godolphin allowing us to keep them in training, so they can show what they can do as the finished article.”
On a rating of 130, the six-year-old has now been retired and joins his sire Dubawi at stud.
Second highest
Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic received the second-highest rating, with 126. That put him at the top of the three-year-old category.
The top 10 for 2020 has eight horses with ratings of 125 and includes European star milers Palace Pier (top miler) and Persian King, Champion Stakes winner Addeybb, plus Stradivarius (top stayer)
Tiz The Law, who won three Grade 1s in 2020, including the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, completes the top 10 together with eastern sprinters Bivouac and Classique Legend.
Top stayer
With a mark of 125, Stradivarius (pictured) becomes the highest-rated stayer since Minster Son in 1988 thanks to his demolition job in the Ascot Gold Cup – the third time he’d won the Royal Meeting feature.
York’s International Stakes has become the first British race to be awarded the top Group 1 of the year since Longines started the awards in 2015.
The Irish Champion Stakes came second in the rankings, with the Coral-Eclipse, Prix Jacques le Marois and Ascot’s Champion Stakes also featuring for Europe among the top 10.
Top jockey
Frankie Dettori received the Longines award for World’s Best Jockey.
It is the third consecutive year Dettori has claimed the title, based on rides in Group 1 races. He won nine such contests on eight different horses, with Stradivarius the mount giving him two victories at the top level.
Ryan Moore and William Buick filled the next two places in the jockey rankings.
Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings:
1 Ghaiyyath rated 130
2 Authentic 126
3 Addeybb 125
3 Stradivarius 125
3 Bivouac 125
3 Classique Legend 125
3 Palace Pier 125
3 Persian King 125
3 Tiz The Law 125
Longines top 10 Group 1s of 2020:
1 Juddmonte International – York
2 Irish Champion Stakes – Leopardstown
3 Japan Cup – Tokyo
4 Breeders’ Cup Turf – Keeneland
5 Tenno Sho (Autumn) – Kyoto
6 Coral-Eclipse – Sandown
7 Yasuda Kinen – Tokyo
8 Prix Jacques le Marois – Deauville
9 Champion Stakes – Ascot
10 Arima Kinen – Nakayama
