The World’s Best Racehorse debate: Winx or Enable?

As we near the end of the year, there’s little arguing the World’s Best Racehorse is a filly or mare. But which one?

I’ll say it’s European-based Enable, not Australia’s Winx, following a weekend in which both horses added to their accomplishments.

Enable’s winning streak may only measure eight races, obviously shorter than Winx’s 28 consecutive victories. However, Enable has won in four different countries as her connections move her to face the best competition. She took on all comers in Sunday’s Prix De l’Arc de Triomphe, which the John Gosden trainee won for a second straight year.

Enable is just the eighth horse to win consecutive runnings of the Arc, and only the third female to do so in its 189-year history. She was the first horse in more than 100 years to win it having run just one other race during the year’s campaign.

The September Stakes (G3), while run at the same distance as the Arc, came over a synthetic course and against a smaller field. Despite giving up quite a bit of fitness to the 18 other Arc runners, several of which were multiple Grade 1 winners, Enable prevailed.

Winx is a great one, yes. But careful handling by her connections leaves us only to speculate how she would stack up against proven horses on other continents. Maybe she could beat them. But then again, Enable has already beaten them multiple times.

Trained by Chris Waller, Winx showcased her powerful turn of foot Saturday in the Turnbull Stakes, coming from deep in the pack to strike in another dramatic run.

Next, she'll meet a number of familiar rivals when she goes for a record-breaking fourth straight Cox Plate win in her next start. The 7-year-old has faced some top runners, including Highland Reel in the 2015 Cox Plate, as they ship into Australia. But that Winx hasn’t left her home continent is a source of consternation for fans who don’t consider her World’s Best Racehorse.

The official standings — last updated Sept. 9 — do list Winx at No. 1. They’re based on a horse’s single-best performance in a given year. Enable’s diminishing winning margin in the Arc may not propel her past in this start, but she has every reason to improve next out, as do many others targeting either the British Champions Day or Breeders’ Cup weekend races.

But we won’t see Winx and Enable match up against one another. That leaves credentials to be considered, and Enable’s are clearly superior.