Timeform, the respected British form/handicapping specialist, assesses America’s Horse Of The Year Curlin as the best horse in the world in the Timeform Global Rankings.
Curlin is given a rating of 134, just ahead of Duke Of Marmalade, who is named the leading turf horse in the world following his two recent victories at Ascot in England, the latest being in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Eng-I) at the end of July.
Kieran Packman, the Timeform spokesman, commented: "Curlin narrowly gets Timeform’s vote as the best horse in the world, on the evidence of his convincing victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) and the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).
"With the recent announcement that his turf campaign is to be postponed, Curlin will take all the beating back on dirt at Saratoga in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I), his next intended target, at the end of August.
"Big Brown returned after an eight-week break at Monmouth Park last weekend and showed plenty of determination to win the Haskell Invitational (gr. I). Whether the much-anticipated meeting with Curlin ever takes place seems doubtful, but there’s every chance that Big Brown will be right back at his best (132 recorded in his Kentucky Derby victory) with that run behind him and that would be good enough to make Curlin have to pull out all the stops."
Curlin and Big Brown are the only American-trained horses to make Timeform’s top 20. The rest are from Britain, Ireland. France, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and South Africa.
They include two horses who ran over the Aug. 7-9 weekend -- the unlucky Arlington Million (gr. IT) second Archipenko (127) and Marchand D’Or (127), winner of the Prix Maurice de Gheest (Fr-I for the third year in a row.
The Timeform list has the same global top three as issued by the World Rankings Supervisory Committee, compiled by the panel of handicappers/racing secretaries affiliated to the IFHA (International Federation of Horseracing Authorities). That list had Curlin at 130, Duke of Marmalade at 127, and Big Brown at 127.
TIMEFORM GLOBAL TOP 20
1 CURLIN S M Asmussen, USA 134
2 DUKE OF MARMALADE A P O'Brien, Ireland 133
3 BIG BROWN R E Dutrow, jnr, USA 132
3 PAPAL BULL Sir Michael Stoute, GB 132§
5 HENRYTHENAVIGATOR A P O'Brien, Ireland 131
5 NEW APPROACH J S Bolger, Ireland 131
5 SACRED KINGDOM P F Yiu, Hong Kong 131
8 RAVEN'S PASS J H M Gosden, GB 130
8 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE A P O'Brien, Ireland 130
8 TARTAN BEARER Sir Michael Stoute, GB 130
8 WEEKEND HUSSLER Ross McDonald, Australia 130
8 YOUMZAIN M R Channon, GB 130
13 GETAWAY A Fabre, France 129
13 GOOD BA BA A Schutz, Hong Kong 129
15 MONTMARTRE A de Royer Dupre, France 128+
15 SAKHEE'S SECRET H Morrison, GB 128
15 SEPTIMUS A P O'Brien, Ireland 128
18 APACHE CAT Greg Eurell, Australia 127
18 ARCHIPENKO M F de Kock, South Africa 127
18 MARCHAND D'OR F Head, France 127
18 MATSURIDA GOGH S Kunieda, Japan 127
18 MISS ANDRETTI Lee Freeman, Australia 127
18 VIVA PATACA J Moore, Hong Kong 127
18 YEATS A P O'Brien, Ireland 127
Curlin ranks at the top of the Timeform world Thoroughbred rankings released Aug. 6.
