Why York’s three Group 1s lead the world

Remember last year’s Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York, when Mecca’s Angel, who had also won the the race the year before, blitzed a star-studded field, headed by Limato? That was the best sprint in Britain over the last three years - and the highest-ranked five-furlong race in the world.

What about the 2016 running of the Darley Yorkshire Oaks? Darley Irish Oaks winner Seventh Heaven beat Found, who would win the Arc a few weeks later, and subsequent Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Queen’s Trust. Some race, eh? No wonder it was the best turf contest in Britain exclusively for fillies and mares in that same three-year period. And the second best in the world.

The Nunthorpe and the Yorkshire Oaks are two of the three Group 1s at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, which will boast a record prize money of £4.4 million when it takes place next week - from Wednesday August 23, to Saturday August 26. These aren’t just any old Group 1s, they’re among highest rated in the world.

The third one, the highlight not just of the opening day but regularly one of the worldwide highlights each season, is the £1 million Juddmonte International, which has a résumé that outpoints even the other two.

We ran some stats through the TRC Global Rankings algorithm (taking the current rankings three-year window and basing the race standings on an average of Racing Post Ratings for the first four finishers in each renewal) to see how the York races compare with other Group and Graded contests around the world. The results showed they compare well. Very well.

The Ebor Festival is often referred to as the ‘Royal Ascot of the North’, yet as far as the three Group 1s are concerned, it actually surpasses that great meeting in June. As you’ll see in the tables below, each of the York races comes out ahead of any similar contest at the Royal meeting.

Juddmonte International

(Wednesday, August 23)

As the table shows, two of its three editions make the top six of all the races run in Britain during that period. Australia’s sublime defeat of The Grey Gatsby and a collection of superior older horses in 2014 is rated fourth, and Postponed’s mighty performance last year, when he got the better of a quality field led by Highland Reel, is sixth.

Only the 2015 edition, when a masterful Silvestre de Sousa conjured one of the biggest upsets of the decade with an improbable neck defeat of Golden Horn on 50-1 shot Arabian Queen, is outside the top ten.

Britain’s best races: 2014-present

Figures based on the RPR average of the first four finishers

Australia’s race comes out as the fifth highest-rated turf race in the world, ahead of two of the three runnings of the Arc in the last three years, as the table below shows.

The world’s best turf races: 2014-present

Figures based on the RPR average of the first four finishers

Go back six years, however, and the Juddmonte International comes out as world number one, thanks to one particular horse: Frankel.

The TRC Global Rankings are based on a rolling three-year window, updated weekly, but data is available back to 2011. So we ran the stats back six years, and guess which race came out on top.

Not surprisingly, seven of the top ten races were all won by Frankel (of the other three, two went to Black Caviar and one to Treve). But the best of the lot, the strongest race in Frankel’s career, was the 2012 Juddmonte International, in which he ran to an RPR of 143 in finishing seven lengths clear of subsequent Qipco British Champion Stakes winner Farhh and six-time G1 winner St Nicholas Abbey, who were split by a nose after a gut-wrenching battle for second.

That renewal is well clear as the best turf race in the world over the six years, as the table here shows.

The world’s best turf races: 2011-present

Figures based on the RPR average of the first two finishers

Darley Yorkshire Oaks

(Thursday, August 24)

Two runnings of the £350,000 Group 1 make the top five of worldwide turf races for fillies and mares over the past three years.

Seventh Heaven’s victory last year is rated just a fraction behind the Prix Vermeille of the year before, but there’s no disgrace there - that featured one of the finest performances in the career of dual Arc heroine Treve!

The 2014 Yorkshire Oaks, when the Aidan O’Brien-trained Tapestry ran the race of her life to upset the King George and Epsom Oaks winner Taghrooda, comes in at five.

Those two renewals are first and third among filly and mare races in Britain alone during that period.

The world’s best fillies and mares turf races: 2014-present

Figures based on the RPR average of the first four finishers

Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes

(Friday, August 25)

The only two sprints anywhere in the world and on any surface that come out better than the 2016 Nunthorpe were both over six furlongs at Flemington in Australia, both featuring Aussie speedballs Chautauqua and Terravista.

And, with U.S. sensation Lady Aurelia and Goodwood winner Battaash both likely runners, this year’s Nunthorpe, now with a prize fund of £350,000, could be a strong contender for its own place in the top ten.

The world’s best sprints: 2014-present

Figures based on the RPR average of the first four finishers

Next week’s festival isn’t just about the Group 1s, though. York Racecourse had ten races ranked in the top 250 in the world on all surfaces on 2016 renewals, and seven of them are being run next week.

As well as the three Group 1s, they are the £170,000 G2 Betway Great Voltigeur Stakes (the highest-rated classic trial in Britain all last season) on Wednesday, the £200,000 G2 Weatherby’s Hamilton Lonsdale Cup and the £175,000 G3 Sky Bet City of York Stakes (seven furlongs), both on Friday, and the £90,000 G3 Betfred Mobile Strensall Stakes (nine furlongs), part of the supporting card on Saturday, when the feature race is the £285,000 Betfred Ebor Handicap over a mile and threequarters.

The meeting also stages the two richest 2-year-old Group 2s in Britain - the £225,000 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes for fillies on Thursday and the colts’ equivalent, the £225,000 Al Basti Equiworld Gimcrack Stakes, on Saturday.

As if that wasn’t enough, the progamme also includes Britain’s richest maiden (the British Stallion Studs EBF Convivial Maiden Stakes on Friday, its richest nursery handicap (the six-furlong Betway Stakes on Wednesday) and its richest apprentice race (the five-furlong Betfred Apprentice Stakes, which is the final contest of the meeting on Saturday). Each of these three races has a prize fund of £70,000.

The Lonsdale, like the Group 1s, is part of the British Champions Series.

Each of the Group 1s is a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' qualifier - the Juddmonte International guaranteeing the winner a place in the line-up for the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, the Yorkshire Oaks for the Filly & Mare Turf, and the Nunthorpe for the Turf Sprint.