
2021 Pegasus World Cup Turf at a Glance
A battle for the ages in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes saw the winning Enable make a significant jump in the August 2019 edition of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings to a rating of 126. The rating was a three-point improvement that vaulted Enable to the second spot behind top-ranked Crystal Ocean, the 5-year-old that Enable defeated in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth thriller.
Enable's move caused Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes victor City of Light to move down a spot to the third position on a rating of 125 after sitting first or second for the first seven months of the year. Rating as the best U.S-based horse, the retired City of Light is tied with recently retired Australian superstar Winx and recently crowned Hong Kong champion Beauty Generation on a rating they’ve held since the first rankings of the year came out in March.
Grade 1 Whitney Stakes winner McKinzie’s victory last weekend came just in time to see a jump on this list with his rating moving from 121 to 123 to tie him for ninth place as the second-highest U.S.-based horse. Two-time Grade 1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow, who is a frequent visitor to the United States, rounds out the top 15 with a rating of 121 to tie him with three other horses.
Seventeen horses are tied with a rating of 120, including six U.S. horses, led by Grade 1 Haskell Invitational winner Maximum Security and leading turf horse Bricks and Mortar. Mitole and Roy H. also are U.S.-based horses who have seen their rating sitting at 120 over the past few months. Imperial Hint and Shancelot both impressed in their most recent victories over the Saratoga dirt, with their wins allowing them to become the newest members of the 120 club this month.
Former Chad Brown trainee and 2018 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes runner-up Gronkowski is another horse with a U.S. connection who is also in the group of 17 rated at 120.
LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Leading Horses |
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Rank |
Horse |
Rating |
Trained |
1 |
CRYSTAL OCEAN (GB) |
127 |
GB |
2 |
ENABLE (GB) |
126 |
GB |
3 |
BEAUTY GENERATION (NZ) |
125 |
HK |
3 |
CITY OF LIGHT (USA) |
125 |
USA |
3 |
WINX (AUS) |
125 |
AUS |
6 |
BLUE POINT (IRE) |
124 |
GB |
6 |
SANTA ANA LANE (AUS) |
124 |
AUS |
6 |
WALDGEIST (GB) |
124 |
FR |