Authentic second to Ghaiyyath in World Racing Awards
The 2020 Longines World Racing Awards were announced Tuesday, with 2020 World’s Best Racehorse honor going to Ghaiyyath (IRE), while Authentic (USA) was second.
Ghaiyyath earned his rating of 130 in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, which also was named the 2020 World’s Best Horse Race. The Irish horse started his season in Dubai, taking the Dubai Millennium Stakes (G3) at Meydan. The then 5-year-old completed the 2000 metres contest in 2:00:33, setting a new track record in the process. Following his victory in Dubai, the champion returned to Europe to win the Coronation Cup Stakes (G1) in his next start and defeated 2019 co-World’s Best Racehorse Enable in the Coral-Eclipse (G1).
The second-highest rated horse in the world in 2020, Authentic, earned his rating in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he set a track record by completing the 1 1/4-mile race in 1:59.60. Authentic’s rating makes him the highest rated dirt horse in the world for 2020 as well as the highest rated 3-year-old. The American horse was also the first one since 2015 World’s Best Racehorse American Pharoah to win the Kentucky Derby and Classic in the same year.
The World’s Best Racehorse Rankings are established by international handicappers according to the performance of the horses in top races. In the previous edition, Crystal Ocean (GB), Enable (GB) and Waldgeist (FR) were celebrated as the joint winners of the 2019 World’s Best Racehorse title.
The 2020 World Racing Awards also celebrated Frankie Dettori as the World’s Best Jockey of the year. Dettori is the only four-time winner of the title, which was established in 2014, and he has now won it three consecutive times. The awarding of the World’s Best Jockey title is based on performances in the 100 highest-rated Group 1 and Grade 1 races as established for the year by the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee.
Additionally, Juddmonte International Stakes (G1), held at York Racecourse in England, was honored as the 2020 World’s Best Horse Race, with a rating of 125.25. The World’s Best Horse Race Award recognizes the best-rated race of the highest-rated Group 1 international races as established by a panel of international handicappers. The ratings of the top four finishers in each race serve as basis for the assessment.
This is the first time an English race has won the title. France’s Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe won the award in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, while America’s Breeders’ Cup Classic won in 2016.
The awards ceremony was held entirely online for the first time. The awards are co-organized by Swiss watch brand Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA). The program was hosted by presenter Francesca Cumani at the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket, England.