ONCE again it is the older horses’ division which supplies us with the world champion racehorse for 2021, the American Knicks Go carrying all before him on a mark of 129.

Knicks Go lies just 1lb behind the previous year’s champion Ghaiyyath following a lengthy campaign which began with a victory in the Pegasus World Cup this time last year.

His season ran all the way through to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November where he made all the running for a convincing success over the ill-fated Kentucky Derby hero Medina Spirit (124). Knicks Go had established his credentials as a top-flight runner well by the end of 2020 when his campaign culminated in a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile success.

Interestingly for a top-class American dirt colt, he possesses a form line which ties in with Europe as a venture to Saudi Arabia last February saw him having to settle for fourth behind John and Thady Gosden’s Mishriff (127). The latter is the top-rated older horse in Europe from 2021 and his rating of 127 represents a significant progression from the 120 mark he achieved as a three-year-old.

Mishriff came up short in three of his four runs in Europe this summer apart from the Juddmonte International where he dished out a six-length beating to Alenquer. He was in tremendous form earlier in the spring though when demonstrating tremendous versatility in landing the Saudi Cup in February before then switching back to grass to deal with a formidable Japanese challenge in the Sheema Classic at Meydan.

Japanese form

The third highest-rated older horse in the world comes in the shape of a typically formidable Japanese middle-distance runner in Contrail who moves up from 124 as a three-year-old to 126 this time around. The Japanese Triple Crown winner was restricted to just a handful of starts this year but showed all his old class remained firmly intact as he bested a field of 17 rivals to land the Japan Cup in late November.

A rating of 125 brings in a series of familiar names from around the world and this group includes Palace Pier. The Kingman horse carried all before him over a mile through the summer when he won the Lockinge and the Queen Anne before he just got the better of Poetic Flare in a terrific tussle for the Prix Jacques le Marois in August. His career ended with a neck defeat at the hands of Baaeed in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes but that does nothing to detract from his position as a miler of real quality.

Also coming in at 125 is Torquator Tasso who bagged the top-rated race in the world when shocking a host of better fancied rivals to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a victory which came at the chief expense of Tarnawa (120).

Another interesting 125-rated runner is the crack Hong Kong-based miler Golden Sixty. He extended his winning run to 16 races and two and a half years when winning the Hong Kong Mile last month although he did suffer a shock defeat at the hands of the ex-Irish Waikuku last Sunday morning.

The top-rated older mare in the world is the Australian-based Verry Elleegant who followed up her third placing behind Joseph O’Brien’s State Of Rest in the Cox Plate by running out a four-length winner of the Melbourne Cup just over a week later.

She has form that ties in with Europe having beaten, and then been beaten by, Addeybb in the spring. Her presence in the rankings ahead of fillies the calibre of Tarnawa is sure to provoke plenty of comment, and justifiably so.