THE weekend for a horse racing fan on Twitter can resemble an international contest in one-upmanship.

Australia are, due to time zones, often the first to move to praise the latest “world-beating” effort by a local star, followed by Ireland and Britain, the US on Saturday night, Japan and Hong Kong on Sunday morning and finally, maybe, France on Sunday and Monday.

The world is full of superstars/over-hyped horses, depending on who you listen to. Fortunately, ratings arrived at through sound principles – such as standardisation and time comparisons – help to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I would describe Russian Camelot as wheat, just about, after he returned to winning ways in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield in Australia last weekend, a performance worth a figure of 119 with me.

Improbable (120) is similar, even though his win in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita in the US probably owed plenty to Maximum Security (125) and Midcourt (119) under-performing (the close-up fourth had been no great shakes previously).

Best in world

Princess Noor (117) is definitely a good horse by two-year-old filly standards – currently the best in the world in that division on my figures – after she won the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita by wide margins. The colt Get Her Number (114) ran slightly faster overall in winning the American Pharoah Stakes later on the card, but that was down to a slightly steady opening half-mile in the fillies’ race.

There was some fighting talk from connections after United won the John Henry Turf at Santa Anita, but the five-year-old will surely have to run much better than this 112 to follow up at the Breeders’ Cup.

The Hong Kong Derby winner Golden Sixty (117 overall, 113 here) made the most of a huge weight concession from Beauty Generation in the Celebration Cup Handicap at Sha Tin, the latter still rated 124 despite his advancing years.

Some of the response to Contrail’s second-tier win in Japan was over the top, in my opinion, given that two of the three to get closest to him had been shown up by him in the Japanese Derby previously.

A rating of 117 on Contrail is highly respectable, and he is winning in good style, but he has probably not met a good horse in a wider context yet.

Makaloun successfully defended his unbeaten record against ordinary opposition in the Prix de Conde at Chantilly on Monday, and is top of the French two-year-old colts now on 107.