James Willoughby picks out the jockey, trainer, owner and sire who made the biggest impact on the TRC Global Rankings in the week that ended on Sunday.
TRC JOCKEY OF THE WEEK
No fewer than five jockeys had doubles: Brian Hernandez (+5ps, #31 from #34), Flavien Prat (+2pts, #13 from #14), Florent Geroux (+4pts, #16 from #17) and Irad Ortiz (+1pts, #12 from #11) in the USA, and WILLIAM PIKE (+10pts, #58 from #75) in Australia. The 32-year-old won the G1 Railway Stakes and G2 Western Australia Guineas at Ascot on the outskirts of Perth.
Pike was particularly good on the 6-year-old mare Galaxy Star in the Railway, winning for trainers Grant & Alana Williams and owners Peters Investments Et Al. Pike is 5-14 (36%) on the year with four further places. We rated him the #60 jockey in the world starting the campaign; with greater opportunities, he is capable of ranking higher than currently.
TRC OWNER OF THE WEEK
Scoring twice on the week were the ownership entities we classify as Glen Hill Farm (new at #244), Peters Investments (+9pts, #22 from #33) and Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum (+1pt, stays #3), but we are suckers for history and this award goes to CALUMET FARM (+6pts, #72 from #114). The famous Kentucky operation won a pair of G3s, the Cecil B DeMille Stakes at Del Mar and the Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs.
The successful horses - Flying Scotsman and English Affair – were both bred by Calumet and carried their black-and-gold colours of the present day, rather than Alydar’s famous Devil Red and blue. That is now six winners and a further 16 placed horses this year for the pristine Lexington farm, which was ranked #113 in the world at the beginning of the year.
TRC TRAINER OF THE WEEK
Two winners apiece for Grant & Alana Williams (+11pts, #53 from #74), Jerry Hollendorfer (+3pts, #18 from #20), Ken McPeek (+7pts, #58 from #69), Mike De Kock (+7pts, #48 from #50) and Thom Proctor (+9pts, #124 from #181) but BRAD COX (+4pts, #15 from #19) gets the nod for winning the G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs (with Leofric) and the G3 Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct (with Plainsman).
TRC Global Rankings remains very bullish on Cox. He has been relentlessly progressive in 2018, with 20 winners, including seven at G1; only eight trainers have had more Group/Graded winners this year. The Kentucky based horseman – trainer of G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and G1 Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl – was #59 in the world at the turn of the year and is now one of the global elite by our numbers.
TRC SIRE OF THE WEEK
These awards are meant to be discrete to each week, but we cannot help noting that mighty second-season star LORD KANALOA (+10pts, #30 from #40) has now gained 16pts in two weeks and risen from #51 to #30. He now leads all stallions at the same stage. Unless you have been on Mars (or watching NASA’s mission there) you will know him as the sire of G1 Japan Cup heroine Almond Eye.
Just for good measure, Lord Kanaloa also got G2 Bessarabian Stakes winner Danon Smash on the same day’s Kyoto card. In so doing, he crashes right through the 1000-point barrier we arbitrarily consider elite. Note there were also doubles for Candy Ride (+4pts, #10 from #15) in the USA and the impressive Captain Al (+9pts, #27 from #32) in South Africa.
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.