Even before he won the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, Kerrin McEvoy was on the crest of a wave. In the latest TRC Global Rankings, out today, he is up six places in the jockeys’ list to world-ranked 19 - and his victory at Flemington aboard the German-bred Almandin doesn’t count towards his points total until next week.
The same applies to ‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira, whose Irish-trained mount, Heartbreak City, lost out by a head to McEvoy and Almandin in Melbourne.
The much-in-demand Brazilian, who has been shuttling back and forth between Hong Kong and Australia - sometimes on a daily basis - since the Spring Carnival began, moves up two places to 11th this week after some fine results in group races down under in the counting seven-day period that finished on Sunday. And Heartbreak City’s stirring performance two days ago will do his points total no harm at all when next week’s rankings are released.
McEvoy’s four-point gain this time is due in no small part to two Australian group winners for Godolphin, both trained in England by Charlie Appleby. Appleby is another four-point gainer, climbing one place to 12th in the trainers’ rankings. It is also a good week for another Godolphin trainer, 11th-ranked Saeed bin Suroor, who landed the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud with Thunder Snow.
Standout among the top jockeys in this week’s standings, however, is Aussie Hugh Bowman, who is now world No. 2.
Winx’s spectacular Cox Plate success put Bowman on the shoulder of Frankie Dettori in that second spot in last week’s standings, and a mighty five-point gain in the latest counting period - including G1 wins at Flemington on Flying Artie and Le Romain - has taken him clear of the Italian.
He still has to go some to catch leader Ryan Moore, however. The Englishman added to his awesome worldwide G1 tally when hot favourite Maurice won the $2 million Tenno Sho in Tokyo on Sunday (running to a Racing Post Rating of 122, the highest in the world over the seven days). That helped Moore maintain his lead at the top - currently 35 points. He was out of luck in the Melbourne Cup but will be looking for still more G1 success at the Breeders’ Cup this weekend.
The great meet at Santa Anita could also prove significant for U.S. trainer Chad Brown, who is locked in an intriguing battle for second place in the rankings with Australia’s Chris Waller. Brown goes into the Breeders’ Cup laden with big chances, several of whom could produce major point-scoring performances.
Click here to see a full list of the leading climbers.
Click here for the list of winners of all races that counted towards the standings last week.