Media Release 
2008 WORLD THOROUGHBRED RANKINGS
For 3yos and up which raced between 1st January and 31st December 2008 and which were rated at 115 or above by the IFHA World Thoroughbred Rankings Conference.
Horses racing over different distances and being top rated, jointly top rated or rated the same in different distance categories will be credited with such performances by the appending of the appropriate distance indicators. Horses which top a category but which have a higher rating are shown in italic script. Ratings are calculated in units of 1lb.
The World Thoroughbred Rankings are published by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA)
The 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings have today been released by the International Federation of Horse Authorities..
To merit inclusion, a horse must have been rated at 115 or above in the period under review by the World Thoroughbred Rankings Conference.
For the first time, the 2008 World Thoroughbred Rankings provide a comprehensive list of the best individual performances by the World’s racing elite during the Calendar year, irrespective of where individual horses raced or were trained.
The joint top rated horses at 130 for 2008 were Curlin (USA) for his win in the 2008 Dubai World Cup at Nad al Sheba in March and New Approach (IRE) in winning the Champion Stakes at Newmarket in October. Unbeaten French filly Zarkava (FR) was the highest rated female in the world on 128 for her win in the Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.
Australian-bred horses dominated the Rankings in the Turf Sprint Category providing 12 of the 24 horses.
Sacred Kingdom (by Encosta de Lago) was the highest rated sprinter on turf at 123 for his win in the Chairman’s Prize at Sha Tin in February. Sacred Kingdom shared the honour of top ranked sprinter in the world on any surface with Midnight Lute (USA) who won the Breeders Cup Sprint on dirt.
Australia’s reigning horse of the year, Weekend Hussler was rated the highest three-year-old sprinter in the world on any surface rating 122 for his win in the VRC Newmarket Handicap in March.
Of the 287 horses making the listings, 36 were Australian-trained. This represented a record number of Australian-trained horses in any World Rankings over a 12 month period, compared with 33 in 2007/8, 29 in 2006/7, 16 in 2005/6 and nine in the 2004/5 southern hemisphere racing season.
A further nine Australian-bred horses trained in other countries were also listed including Sacred Kingdom (123), Sun Classique (120) who won the Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night in March, Haradasun (120) who won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot for Aidan O’Brien and the Hong Kong International Sprint winner Inspiration (117).
Greg Carpenter, Chairman of the ANZ Classifications Committee and Australia’s representative on the WTR Conference was most impressed with the increased presence of Australian-trained and bred horses.
“The 2008 listings give ample proof of the growing influence Australian-bred and trained horses are having on World racing. In the 2004/5 racing season Australia had just nine horses rated 115 or above, these listings contain a remarkable 36 Australian-trained horses and a further nine Australian-bred and trained elsewhere.” A full list of Australian-trained or bred horses is attached together with distance and surface category leaders.
