City Of Troy emulates Frankel to give Ballydoyle their first world champion since Hawk Wing

The 2024 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings confirm City Of Troy's status as the best turf horse of last year, with the Derby, Eclipse and International winner earning an official mark of 128 and becoming the first horse since Frankel to be rated a champion at both two and three.

Rated joint-champion overall with wide-margin Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River – whose Meydan romp has perhaps been given more credit than it deserved – City Of Troy rates a first overall champion for Aidan O'Brien since Hawk Wing topped the rankings in 2003. Camelot and, more recently, St Mark's Basilica have headed the three-year-old European rankings in the meantime, but a Ballydoyle world champion has proved more elusive.

While a worthy champion, City Of Troy's official mark of 128 clearly doesn't tally with his trainer's assertion that he's the best he has ever trained. Indeed, his official ranking, which sees him rated joint-lowest historically for an overall champion, would still appear to have required some massaging from the rankings committee.