Via Sistina’s dominant performance to win the Cox Plate has been rewarded with a place in the world’s Top 5 according to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s Global Rankings.
The six-year-old smashed the track record at Moonee Valley in Australia’s premier weight-for-age race on October 26 when she powered home eight lengths clear of a top-class field.
In recording her fifth G1 success in the A$3m ($1.98m/£1.5m) event, the daughter of Fastnet Rock leapt to #4 from #16, +145pt) on the TRC Rankings, where she is now the leading Southern Hemisphere representative behind world leader Kyprios.
A G1 winner in Europe for former trainer George Boughey, Via Sistina was purchased by Yulong Investments for 2.7m guineas at Tattersalls December Sales and has won four of her six starts since for trainer Chris Waller (stays at #6), all of them in the highest grade.
Her Cox Plate victory was little short of spectacular as she stopped the clock in 2m1.07s for the 2,000 metres (1m2f) – 1.87s faster than the previous record set by the legendary Winx, a four-time Cox Plate winner.
“It was a Winx-like performance – I can’t believe it,” said winning jockey James McDonald after landing his 100th G1 success on Via Sistina, whose participation had been in doubt after she unshipped her rider in a workout earlier in the week.
“What this mare has been through, she’s just an absolute star,” added McDonald. “I’m so lucky to be a part of it.”
The form looks rock-solid, too, with Japanese-trained favourite Prognosis claiming second place ahead of star three-year-old Broadsiding. Further back were multiple G1-winning pair Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni, who was never able to dominate in her usual fashion.
After scoring in so impressively, Via Sistina was promoted to favouritism for the Melbourne Cup before connections ruled the race out in favour of the G1 Champions Stakes at Flemington on November 9.
Do Deuce, who beat former world #1 Equinox in the 2022 Tokyo Yushun, bounced back to form in no uncertain terms in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) at Tokyo racecourse on October 27.
Last year’s Arima Kinen hero returns to the rankings at #13 after a comfortable victory over fellow Japanese Derby winner Tastiera.
• View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires
‘He is a very special horse’ – staying phenomenon Kyprios claims #1 spot on world rankings
‘An absolute champion of a horse’ – Pride Of Jenni roars back into world Top Ten
• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.