Racing:Frankel has been officially rated 4lb clear of the field as the best racehorse on the planet after the announcement of the World Thoroughbred Rankings. Henry Cecil's unbeaten colt, who carried all before him during the season in a five-race streak, was given a rating of 136 to equal that of Sea The Stars in 2009 as the finest since the instigation of the current system in 2004.
Aidan O’Brien’s Camelot (119) was, alongside French raider Dabirsim, named joint-top-rated juvenile colt in Europe. Ballydoyle stablemate Maybe (116) was crowned joint-top-rated filly in Europe along with the John Gosden-trained Elusive Kate.
Frankel has been considered by Cecil and many experts as the greatest in modern times, although he falls short of the heights achieved in the old classifications by El Gran Senor (138 in 1984) and further from 1986 Arc hero Dancing Brave (141), Alleged and Shergar (both 140).
The figures are collated when the world’s handicappers meet at the end of the year and it was decided the clear second best, on 132, was the celebrated Australian sprinter Black Caviar. Garry O’Gorman, the senior Irish handicapper, said Frankel can still be considered the equal to those giants of the past.
“You have to go back to El Gran Senor 27 years to find a comparable miler, but it is acknowledged that levels of earlier editions were running at a higher level,” he said. “Even though El Gran Senor was 138, to be blunt, he should not have been as high as 138. I would hate to say Frankel and Sea The Stars would have to improve to be talked about in the same breath as those other horses.”
Champion Stakes winner Cirrus des Aigles and German filly Danedream, who was so impressive in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, were rated joint-third on 128 ahead of Canford Cliffs and the late Rewilding (127).