FOR the second year in a row, a British-trained chaser heads the annual Anglo-Irish Jump Classifications, as Gold Cup winner Native River (176) is the top-rated jump horse in training. Many Clouds was last year’s top-rated.
The annual Anglo-Irish Jump Classifications press conference hosted in London by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board on Tuesday, rated the Colin Tizzard-trained chaser on 176 for his thrilling four and a half-length defeat of Might Bite (172) in this year’s Gold Cup in March.
Native River’s rating of 176 puts him ahead of the likes of three-time winner of the race Best Mate (175) as well as Kicking King (175) and War Of Attrition (173), but behind recent winners Don Cossack (177) and Bobs Worth (180).
Another British-trained horse Altior (175) tops the two-mile division, with Waiting Patiently completing the trio of top chasing ratings on 170 in the two and a half-mile division, for his Betfair Chase Ascot defeat of Cue Card.
Un De Sceaux is perhaps a big harshly treated, rated 168, along with Aintree winner Politologue and Punchestown Gold Cup winner Bellshill. Anibale Fly, Fox Norton, Whisper and Min come next on 168.
Ireland fared better in the novice chase division with Presenting Percy top staying novice on 165, Al Boum Photo (159), winner of the Grade 1 Ryanair Gold Cup at Fairyhouse in April, tops the middle division and Footpad (166) heads the two-mile division.
Footpad, the top two-mile novice and dominant winner by a combined total of 53 lengths of his five novice chases, is rated 4lb inferior to Altior was ranked 170 for his performances as a novice the previous year.
HURDLERS
In what was described as “an underwhelming hurdling season”, Faugheen is the overall top-rated hurdler after his 13-length Punchestown Champion Stayers’ Hurdle success, rated 169, ahead of dual champion hurdler Buveur D’Air on 166.
He had Cheltenham Stayers’ winner Penhill (165) and Aintree Stayers’ Hurdle winner Identity Thief (162) behind him on that occasion but is 7lb below his 176 top-rated in the 2016/17 season.
Despite an unbeaten campaign which saw him claim his second successive victory in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, Buveur D’Air ended the 2017/18 campaign rated 166, 3lb lower than the peak rating of 169, achieved last season for his victory in the Grade 1 Betway Aintree Hurdle.
NOVICES#
Among the novices, Irish star Samcro dominated with ratings of 158 over shorter distances and 160 over longer trips.
The rating was the highest posted by a novice over extended distances since The New One in 2012/13 and follows Samcro’s victory in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. It is still a pound below Labaik’s 161 for the 2017 Supreme. This year’s winner Summerville Boy is rated 2lb below Samcro, the same as top juvenile We Have A Dream.
Owners and jockeys:
COMMENT
Phil Smith, head of handicapping for the BHA, said:
“Native River has been rated best chaser in Great Britain and Ireland on 176 after winning as thrilling a Gold Cup as I have seen. Might Bite on 172 would have been a worthy champion but he came up just short at Cheltenham. Next Christmas at Kempton might well be a different story.
“In the three-mile novice category, Presenting Percy on 165 rates only behind Coneygree (172) Thistlecrack (170) and Gloria Victis (166) in the ratings this century.
“It was fairly straightforward to have Altior (175) as champion two-mile chaser but perhaps next year he will not have things quite so much his own way as Footpad has been rated top novice at two miles on 166.”
David Dickinson, BHA handicapper:
“The inability to rate a dual Unibet Champion Hurdle winner higher than 166 for his exploits during the season says as much about the lack of competition in the division during the winter, particularly in Great Britain, as it does about Buveur D’Air’s merits as a racehorse.
“As for the Champion Hurdle itself, he failed to win with the authority he had shown in the race the previous year, or indeed at Aintree the following month.
“Of the 26 hurdlers rated 150 and above in the two mile-category, exactly half are housed in the two main Irish yards.
“With regard to the novices, the form of Samcro’s Leopardstown win in February was franked by the likes of Paloma Blue, Whiskey Sour and Early Doors at Cheltenham the following month and rates him as the highest novice in the two-mile category on 158.
Two pounds lower, Summerville Boy’s win in the both the 32Red Tolworth and the Skybet Supreme make him the best home -rained novice, alongside the top-rated juvenile We Have A Dream.”