THE Breeders’ Cup is a must-see if you are a student of international horseracing and this year’s meeting at Santa Anita in California was one of the best yet.

In particular, the Classic on Saturday lived up to its promise and delivered the definitive race of the 2016 flat season. All but one of the nine runners were rated 117 or higher by Timeform in advance, with California Chrome, Arrogate and Frosted all candidates for the title of Best Horse in The World at various stages during the year.

In the event, California Chrome and Arrogate separated from the field and fought a stirring battle up the home straight, with the latter getting on top late on by half a length; there were over 10 lengths back to Keen Ice in third.

There is nothing not to like about this year’s Classic, which was run in a good time and at a true pace throughout, as the sectionals showed. By coming so far clear, the first two put up outstanding efforts, and the 138 figure that Timeform US put on the winner cements his status as one of the most gifted horses of the modern era in the USA.

TRAVERS STAKES

It was only as recently as August that Arrogate was still just an optional claimer winner, if undoubtedly a superior one. But his win in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga at the end of that month saw him smash the race record time and was indisputably out of the top drawer. Timeform US rated that effort at 139.

This was a race for the ages, both as a spectacle and for the purist. Just a year on from the magnificent Triple Crown-winning American Pharoah, American racing has a couple of absolute stars on its hands again.

SONGBIRD

Close though the Classic was, an even more stirring finish had taken place 24 hours earlier, when the hitherto-unbeaten Songbird went down by a nose to the 2013 winner Beholder, with neither giving an inch up the home straight.

Again, the overall time and sectionals point to this having been a high-class renewal, with Beholder earning a 127 figure from Timeform US.

Both California Chrome and Songbird were beaten but lost no caste in defeat in meeting their challenges head-on. That is what top-class racing should be about, surely.