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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities also co-honored the Champion Stakes (G1) and Japan Cup (G1) as the Longines World's Best Horse Race with an equal rating of 126.25.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
With a rating of 130, the Aga Khan Studs homebred Calandagan has been crowned Longines World's Best Racehorse for 2025, ahead of five horses from four different countries who all tied for second on a rating of 128. At a ceremony to mark the Longines Racing Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the performance of Calandagan when winning October's G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot was the best produced by any racehorse on the planet last year. The son of Gleneagles – who also struck at the top level in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Japan Cup during a blockbuster 2025 – becomes the first French-trained winner of the prize since Waldgeist shared the honour with both Crystal Ocean and Enable in 2019. The depth of the fields beaten by Calandagan last year is underlined by the standing of the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup among the world's highest-rated races of 2025. Indeed, for the first time, there was a tie at the top in the battle for the Longines World's Best Horse Race Award, with the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup both achieving a rating of 126.25. This figure is calculated based on the first four finishers in each race and the average of their ratings. Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and Masquerade Ball (Duramente) were both involved in the five-way tie for second, having finished second behind Calandagan in the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup, respectively. Ombudsman, trained in Newmarket by John and Thady Gosden, was also successful in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes and G1 Juddmonte International, while Takahisa Tezuka's Masquerade Ball made the breakthrough at the top level when winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in his native Japan. Japan was home to another horse who achieved a rating of 128 in the G1 Saudi Cup and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Forever Young (Real Steel). Those performances were matched on dirt by only the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI Travers Stakes winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), a late absentee from the Breeders' Cup Classic for Bill Mott and Godolphin. Completing the quartet of horses on a rating of 128 was the Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising, who proved himself the world's best sprinter when extending his winning sequence to 16 races in 2025. The son of Shamexpress was last seen winning the G1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin for the second year in a row, having previously pulled off a successful Australian raid in the G1 The Everest. Calandagan's stablemate Daryz (Sea The Stars) featured among the next wave of horses on a rating of 127, along with Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). Daryz produced his career-best effort when winning the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, while Romantic Warrior and Sierra Leone both ran their best races of last year in defeat, when finishing second behind Forever Young in the Saudi Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic, respectively. The Todd Pletcher-trained Fierceness (City Of Light) was one of five horses on a rating of 125 after his third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He was joined by a pair of multiple Group 1-winning members of the Classic generation in Europe, Delacroix (Dubawi) and Field Of Gold (Kingman), plus Japan's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic hero Danon Decile (Epiphaneia) and Aidan O'Brien's Jan Brueghel (Galileo), who defeated Calandagan by half a length when winning the G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom. Minnie Hauk was another Group 1 winner on that Epsom card for Ballydoyle when landing the Oaks. With a rating of 123, the daughter of Frankel was the top-rated filly or mare in the world last year, having also won the G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, before filling the runner-up spot behind Daryz in the Arc. The veteran Anmaat (Awtaad) was also rated 123 after finishing second behind Ombudsman in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes and behind Delacroix in the Irish Champion Stakes, while White Abarrio (Race Day) ran to the same figure when winning the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. Overall, 279 horses, trained in 15 different countries, were rated 115 or higher last year. This figure was up from 273 in 2024. World's Top Races in 2025 The ratings for the world's top 100 Group/Grade 1 races of last year were also published on Tuesday, in tandem with the Longines World Racing Awards. As mentioned above, the Champion Stakes and Japan Cup shared top billing with a rating of 126.25. In the Champion Stakes, the first four finishers were Calandagan, Ombudsman, Almaqam (Lope De Vega) (122) and Delacroix, before the winner of that contest followed up in the Japan Cup at the expense of Masquerade Ball, Danon Decile and Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) (122). This is the first time that the Champion Stakes has won the award, while the Japan Cup takes the title for the second time in three years. It was first celebrated in 2023. The Breeders' Cup Classic was best of the rest on 125.50, followed by Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (125.00) and Meydan's Dubai Sheema Classic (124.00). Europe's richest race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, finished just outside of the top 10 with a rating of 123.75, narrowly ahead of the G1 Coral-Eclipse, won by Delacroix, on 123.25. In the five respective distance categories, the highest-rated races were: The Everest (121.00, Sprint); Saudi Cup (121.00, Mile); Champion Stakes (126.25, Intermediate); Japan Cup (126.25, Long); and Gold Cup (117.50, Extended). The GI Spinster Stakes, which went the way of Gin Gin (Hightail), was the world's highest-rated race for fillies and mares on 116.75, while the top contest for three-year-olds was the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) on 121.50. Museum Mile (Leontes) (121) was a decisive winner of the Satsuki Sho ahead of Croix Du Nord and Masquerade Ball. Britain hosted 20 of the world's top 100 Group/Grade 1 races in 2025, with another 19 in Australia and 16 in America. In total, 10 different countries had at least one race featured among the top 100, with the others being comprised of Japan (15), Hong Kong SAR, China (11), France (10), Ireland (4), the United Arab Emirates (3), Germany (1) and Saudi Arabia (1). Meanwhile, James McDonald won the Longines World's Best Jockey title for the second consecutive year and third time overall. The New Zealand-born, Australian-based jockey also won the Longines World's Best Jockey Award in 2022. The awarding of the title is based upon performances in the top 100 races mentioned above, with jockeys earning 12 points for a win, 6 points for placing second and 4 points for placing third. McDonald ended 2025 with a total of 184 points, ahead of Mickael Barzalona with 132 points and William Buick with 114 points. The post Calandagan Adds Longines World’s Best Racehorse Crown to 2025 Spoils appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Seize the Grey (Arrogate–Smart Shopping, by Smart Strike), winner of the 2024 GI Preakness Stakes, was represented by his first foal when stakes-winning Dontmesswithjoanne (Pioneerof the Nile) produced a colt at Tanya Johnson's Red Gables Stud Jan. 17. “We couldn't be happier with this mare's first foal for us. He is strong, correct, and has impressive size,” Johnson said. “Seize the Grey delivered everything we were looking for in this mating, and we are excited to watch his progress.” In addition to the Preakness, Seize the Grey also won the 2024 GI Pennsylvania Derby and GII Pat Day Mile Stakes. He covered 196 mares–fifth most of any first-crop North American stallion in 2025–and stands at Gainesway for a 2026 advertised fee of $25,000. The post First Foal a Colt for Preakness Winner Seize the Grey appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Aidan O'Brien has outlined his early-season Classic plans and revealed that he will consider running Gstaad and Puerto Rico in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket this spring. The Ballydoyle handler has saddled a record 10 winners of the Rowley Mile Classic and possesses another strong hand ahead of this year's renewal, with Gstaad and Puerto Rico joined towards the head of the ante-post betting by stablemate Albert Einstein, who missed the second half of his two-year-old campaign through injury. Gstaad and Puerto Rico did get the chance to fulfil their potential, however, with the former rounding off the year by winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar and the latter claiming successive Group One wins in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Criterium International in France. The pair have both been given a rating of 119 in the two-year-old classifications, putting them 2lb behind Andrew Balding's European champion juvenile Gewan. Considering plans for this season for the duo, O'Brien said, “Gstaad looks probably an English Guineas horse to start off. We were very happy with him last year. We were a little bit disappointed with him in the Dewhurst (second to Gewan), it just didn't go right for him and he just got trapped back a little bit. He ended up in not a nice position really, but we were delighted with him in America. “Puerto Rico is a good, strong, big, mature horse. He could be an English Guineas horse or a French Guineas horse on the way to an Irish Guineas. We entered him in Dubai in the Classic, the three-year-old dirt race, but it'll probably come too early and if that is the case, he'll probably end up starting in one of the Guineas, either the English or the French. “Maybe the two would go to the Guineas (at Newmarket). We think he (Puerto Rico) is that type of horse, he's a high cruiser and it's possible that he could get further than a mile, even though he has plenty of pace.” O'Brien also houses the ante-post favourite for the Derby at Epsom in Pierre Bonnard (rated 113), who won three of his four juvenile starts including a Group One triumph in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Another likely contender for the premier Classic is Hawk Mountain (116), winner of the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster. “Hawk Mountain is a lovely horse, he could be a French Derby horse and he could be an Epsom Derby horse too. We couldn't be happier with him,” O'Brien continued. “Pierre Bonnard we think is a made Epsom horse. He looks like he should get a mile and a half well, he's a big horse. We'll start him in a trial and see. “We'll probably do the same with Hawk Mountain, but Pierre Bonnard looks like a proper Epsom type horse and could come back to an Irish Derby after that.” The master of Ballydoyle has made no secret of the regard in which he holds Albert Einstein, while he has several other colts with untapped potential. When asked for a few horses who could step up this season, O'Brien said, “Isaac Newton ran well in France at the end of the year and could be nice, we could see more of him. A horse called George Stubbs who hasn't run yet, he's a Camelot horse, and Flushing Meadows by Wootton Bassett. He was second at Leopardstown. “Constitution River is another one, as is Albert Einstein, and Montreal won a maiden very impressively at Leopardstown and could be anything.” The trainer possesses a similarly formidable team of three-year-old fillies for this season, headed by the Moyglare Stud Stakes and Fillies' Mile heroine Precise. The daughter of Starspangledbanner, who missed a planned outing at the Breeders' Cup due to an infection, is the joint highest-rated juvenile filly from last term alongside stablemate True Love (both 115). O'Brien said, “Precise will probably start in the 1000 Guineas (at Newmarket). She obviously went to America and didn't get to run, but the experience would have done her no harm. “True Love is lovely. I went to the Juvenile Turf Sprint in America with her (finished eighth) and I probably should have left her for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, but we thought Precise was going there so there was no point running her in that against Precise. “She's lovely, she's done very well and we could think about starting at seven furlongs in Leopardstown or in one of the British trials at Newbury or somewhere like that, and see if there would be a chance that she would get a mile. “If that was the case, obviously she'll go down the Guineas route. If we thought not, then she'd obviously go the sprinting route.” Diamond Necklace (113) rounded off an unbeaten juvenile season with victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac and is another filly with immense promise. “Diamond Necklace is lovely. It's possible that she could do that (run in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket) or she could go to a French Guineas, because she won the Boussac, but I would imagine she will probably start at a mile and we'll see where we go after that,” O'Brien added. The post O’Brien Outlines Early-Season Classic Plans For Puerto Rico and Gstaad appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Jay Rooney SPEEDY SMARTIE - R3 (10) Has been in great form this term and won his last start on dirt Owen Goulding SIGHT DREAMER - R7 (6) Went all the way last start and can repeat the trick from barrier one Trackwork Spy FOREMOST TEDDY -R6 (14) Looks well placed to continue his top form since switching to the dirt Phillip Woo HAPPY UNIVERSE - R7 (4) In good form of late and can make successful transition to the dirt Shannon (Vincent Wong) EXCEED THE WISH - R1 (1) Drops into Class Five...View the full article
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