Ka Ying Rising is now the ‘greatest ever’, with his Longines World’s Best Racehorse Ranking soaring to 135 following a record-breaking victory in the HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup.
Previously rated 131 before the September rankings were released, he overtakes Australian sprinting legend Black Caviar, who peaked at 132 in 2011, as the highest-rated sprinter under the current system.
Ka Ying Rising recorded his 21st consecutive victory and took nearly a second off his own Sha Tin track record when he clocked 1:06.11 for the 1200m, breaking the course record for the fifth time.
“Zac eased down in the same race last year for the last 200m, and he let him run to the line today. He hasn’t been let run to the line many times, and of course he smashed his own record.”
“Bigger, stronger and better,” said trainer David Hayes of Ka Ying Rising, who will enter quarantine in preparation for a defence of The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday, October 17.
Sitting second on the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings is dual Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman, with recently retired British ‘champion miler’ Bow Echo third on 127.
Ranked 126 is Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Daryz, along with retired Hong Kong hero Romantic Warrior, while joining the top five on 126 is Juddmonte International Stakes winner Item.
Scoring by a head over Almaqam, rated 125, Item raised his rating to 126 from 122, while Almaqam increased to 125 from 122. Behind them were Constitution River on 124 and Ombudsman on 131.
Newcomers to the rankings include Erdenali on 124, Maltese Cross on 124 and Aleraq on 123. Erdenali joins the rankings after winning the Prix du Moulin over Ten Bob Tony, rated 121, Gstaad on 125 and Opera Ballo on 123.
Maltese Cross earned his rating by winning the Great Voltigeur Stakes, which came after his victory in the Grand Prix de Paris. Aleraq earned his rating in the Sprint Cup Stakes, which he won by 4¼ lengths.
In the US, Whitney Stakes winner Sovereignty leads the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings, while the Travers Stakes one-two Leading Change and Napoleon Solo join the top 10.
The Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings rate the top 10 horses for the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic to be run at Keeneland at the 43rd Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, earned 383 votes, including 24 first-place votes, and leads the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young with 363 votes, including 12 first-place votes.
Godolphin’s Pacific Classic Stakes winner Knightsbridge is in third with 319 votes, while Magnitude, the Dubai World Cup and Stephen Foster Stakes winner, is in fourth place with 284 votes.
Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo is fifth with 230 votes, with Leading Change in sixth with 134 following victory in the Travers Stakes.
Trainer Bill Mott’s third runner in the top 10 is Baeza, who finished second in the Stephen Foster and fourth in the Whitney, in seventh with 133 votes, while four-year-old filly Nitrogen has 132 votes.
Napoleon Solo, the Preakness Stakes winner and runner-up in the Travers Stakes, is ninth with 91 votes, while tenth with 75 votes is Jim Dandy Stakes winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Renegade.
Sovereignty, Forever Young, Magnitude and Knightsbridge all have starting positions in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
The Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers and members of the Breeders’ Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel, with the next rankings to be published on September 22 and 29 before concluding on October 6.
