Simon Rowlands reviews this year’s global racing action and provides his assessments of the best horses in the world in 2020
LEADER of the pack The best horse in the world in 2020 on Simon’s ratings is the three-time 2020 Group 1 winner Ghaiyyath ,and, opposite, the best three-year-old is Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Gamine
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ITTLE COULD ANY of us have imagined what was just around the corner as 2019 turned into 2020. But, while a hitherto littleheard-of disease wreaked havoc on the lives and the economies of the world, it is remarkable how much horseracing carried on as normal; on the track at least. Nearly all the year’s major events took place, and many of the minor ones too, mostly behind closed doors.
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International travel was reduced but by no means stopped. That is testament to the efforts of the governing bodies and the horsemen and horsewomen around the world. It was a solid, if unspectacular, year on the international ratings front, and one which saw a raft of retirements and injuries before the end. One of those retirements was that of Ghaiyyath, my idea of the best horse to run anywhere in the year, who won emphatically at Meydan, Newmarket (in a
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course record time), Sandown and York, before coming unstuck at Leopardstown, for a rating of 129. That is heady stuff, but not era-defining stuff: Frankel rated in the 140s. British racing managed to stage its Royal Ascot showpiece in its usual slot if with none of the usual pageantry – with Palace Pier in the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) and Alpine Star in the Coronation Stakes (G1) perhaps the best winners. Britain also managed to stage the Classics at their usual homes, though on a slight delay
for the first four of them. Kameko was a good 2,000 Guineas winner in a race-record time, but Serpentine (119) won the Derby from substandard opposition by slipping his field mid-race. He was beaten in two subsequent starts. Love won the 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks in fine style, both backed up by the clock, but disappointingly ran only once after – when winning the Yorkshire Oaks. Galileo Chrome (118) travelled from Ireland to win an up-toscratch St Leger.
