As you would expect after the Breeders' Cup, all four of James Willoughby's Performer of the Week awards for the TRC Global Rankings week that ended on Sunday featured heavily in the events at Churchill Downs.
TRC JOCKEY OF THE WEEK
Frankie Dettori (+5pts, remains #3) would win this 99 percent of the time after landing the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Turf, but JOEL ROSARIO (+8pts, #9 from #10) had four winners, including the G1 Juvenile, Juvenile Fillies’ and Classic at Churchill Downs.
The 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic is one of the most consistent riders in rankings history. We have had him in the world’s top 15 in 202 of the 253 weeks (80 percent) we have produced figures. This year, he and Dettori have partnered ten G1 winners, joint-third behind Mike Smith (13) and Hugh Bowman (11).
TRC OWNER OF THE WEEK
TRC Global Rankings are calculated each Sunday night so this week the Melbourne Cup does not count. For that reason, Godolphin (+3pts, stays #2) loses out to JUDDMONTE FARMS / PRINCE KHALID ABDULLAH (+4pts, stays #5) who landed the same G1 double as Frankie Dettori, the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Expert Eye) and Turf (Enable).
One of the best racing operations in history, Juddmonte have ranked outside the top fve only six times in 253 weeks. On 23 occasions, they have ranked #1, the latest of which was in May, 2015.
TRC TRAINER OF THE WEEK
We have surely said enough about Australian trainer James Cummings (+6pts, #12 from #18) by now, so let’s add our vote to the many for Californian trainer PETER MILLER (+9pts, #29 from #41) for repeating his 2017 G1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint / Turf Sprint double with the formidable pair Roy H and Stormy Liberal.
Miller ranks inside the world’s top 30 of his profession for the first time here. The index of his performance has reached 984, compared with a best of 959 in 2017, 942 in 2016, 944 in 2015 and 939 in 2014.
TRC SIRE OF THE WEEK
There is no doubt that Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Enable is the best runner by NATHANIEL (+9pts, #9 from #13) but it is time to recognise that 16 different horses by the Eclipse and King George winner are now Group- or Graded-placed from 27 black-type runners, including G1 Lydia Tesio winner God Given.
In short, we have a big number for Nathaniel for more reasons than Enable, but the presence of one brilliant horse in a stallion’s portfolio does actually matter, in any case. In research we have carried out, the prediction of future results of that stallion gets worse when the star horse is removed from the data.
Click here for a list of all last week’s biggest TRC Global Rankings points gainers.
Click here for a list of all the week’s Group and Graded winners.