Longines World’s Best Racehorse 2016

200 VIP guests came together to toast the highest rated horses in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings during 2016 together with the highest rated race of the year. The event is organised by Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) together with the British Horseracing Authorities. The connections of the three winning horses were all in attendance having travelled from as far afield as Queensland, Australia and California.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic was named the Longines World’s Best Horse Race for 2016 but Royal Ascot was also included in the line-up. The award recognises the highest-rated Group 1 international race, with the ratings of the top four finishers in each race serving as basis for the assessment. The Breeders’ Cup Classic is a Grade I race for 3-year-olds and upwards with a distance of 1 1⁄4 miles on dirt as opposed to turf. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships in late October or early November.

Arrogate, winner of the Breeder’s Cup Classic and the Pegasus World Cup, took the prize of leading horse. The four year old colt is trained by California based American Bob Baffert and owned by Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms. At the heart of the successful Juddmonte enterprise is British racing doyen, Lord Teddy Grimthorpe who is Prince Abdullah’s Racing Manager and partially responsible for finding and securing the purchase of Arrogate, as a yearling in the Kentucky sales.

Another legendary American horse California Chrome, came second in the Longines rankings. The six year old colt who was retired to stud after the recent Pegasus World Cup last weekend enjoyed a long and rich career. This included winning the Kentucky Derby in 2014 and the much coveted Dubai World Cup in 2016. 

He won so many accolades that The California State Legislature unanimously passed a resolution recognising his outstanding contribution to the sport and the city of Fresno proclaimed October 11, 2014 as “California Chrome Day”.

Such is the significance of the Longines awards that the co-owners of Australian multiple Grade 1 winning mare Winx flew over 10,000 miles to receive their third-placed prize. Debbie Kepitis gave an emotional acceptance speech which summed up what a hero this horse has been, not just to them but to the people of Australia.

In an exclusive interview after the awards, Baffert explained that Arrogate was relatively straight forward to train but required patience in the early days.

“There is more to come from him” he states “I had to be really careful with him early on. Not to let him go too fast too early because he was the kind of horse that if he did, he would get a little stirred up.”

For those wishing to place their next racing bet, we asked Racing Manager Lord Grimthorpe if Arrogate could rival Frankel in terms of racing performance?

Bob Baffert has been the leading money-winning trainer in the United States four times now and in 2015 the 64 year old former Quarter-horse jockey and trainer, became the first trainer to win the Triple Crown in 37 years.

Apparently he has no desire to rest on his laurels and just four days after receiving the Longines award, Arrogate claimed the richest prize in horse racing – The Pegasus World Cup held in Florida.