Reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Equinox maintained the top spot in the 2023 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings with a rating of 129, four points better than Hong Kong-based Golden Sixty at 125.

Equinox earned the 129 rating via a dominant 3 ½-length win in the $6 million Longines Dubai Sheema Classic March 25 at Meydan. The Kitasan Black colt closed out his 3-year-old season with back-to-back Group 1 wins in Japan and made his lone start to date in 2023 in the Dubai Sheema Classic.

Golden Sixty currently stands alone in second in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, but fellow Hong Kong-based runner Lucky Sweynesse improved his rating to a 124 with a 3 1/4-length victory in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize. Now 5-for-5 this year with three Group 1 wins, Lucky Sweynesse is tied for third in the rankings with Japan-based Titleholder.

The leader among U.S.-based runners on the May 7 edition of the 2023 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings is Art Collector, tied for ninth with a 121 rating for his 4 ½-length win in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Baccarat Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park.

Other notable U.S. runners include Up to the Mark, who earned a 120 rating with a win by 3 ¾ lengths in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes on the May 6 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve undercard at Churchill Downs. Also joining the rankings after impressing at Churchill Downs that day are Mage, who won the Kentucky Derby by a length and Cody’s Wish, who took the Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Ford by 4 ¾ lengths. Both Mage and Cody’s Wish earned 119 ratings.