Monday, 14th December 2015 is marked very clearly in my diary. It is the day on which my handicapping colleagues and I finish off the list of ratings that eventually become the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings.
Monday, 14th December 2015 is marked very clearly in my diary. It is the day on which my handicapping colleagues and I finish off the list of ratings that eventually become the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings.
These rankings, to be officially unveiled on January 19, are arrived at after much hard work and discussion that comes to a climax when all 19 of us on the panel, appointed from racing countries around the world, meet in Hong Kong in the week of the big International Races each December.
There is a set procedure we follow. All panellists have access during the year to a website which features the data necessary to give a horse a performance rating. We are looking at all Group races worldwide.
Each handicapper submits his interim figures as we progress through the year, but it is not until December that we actually meet face to face to discuss our assessments.
There are sometimes some fairly tense moments in our meetings. Basically, this is because everybody is so passionate about horse racing. We are all fans of the sport, and we feel very strongly about races and performances we have seen, and also about our ratings.
Personally, I think it is a good thing. It shows that people care. They want to get it right, and they are prepared to argue their case to arrive at what they believe is the correct assessment.
When the meetings are over -- and there are many of them -- we have a drink and a meal, and there is immediately a great atmosphere. We are all together. There is a sense that we have agreed a set of figures that are accurate and reflect the true merit of the horses we have ranked.
I think 2015 has been an above-average year for top-bracket racehorses. There have been two outstanding horses, American Pharoah in the US and Golden Horn in Europe.
Racing fans will have to wait another few weeks to see a list of the final rankings.
We started out with the list of around 380 horses to assess, and that has been whittled down to those with final ratings of 115 and above. We think the wait will be worth it.
Nigel Gray is co-chairman (with the BHA's Phil Smith) of the panel of handicappers, who decide the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings.
