Equinox has been crowned the world's best racehorse of 2023 – and with it the highest-rated Japanese horse of all time.
A year that started with a brilliant three-and-a-half-length beating of Westover in the Dubai Sheema Classic featured another three Group Ones, culminating in his farewell to the track in the Japan Cup.
Trained by Tetsuya Kimura, Equinox was only beaten twice in his 10-race career, winning six Group Ones in total.
He was given a rating of 135 in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, which are compiled by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.
His figure is 5lb below the 140 awarded to Flightline 12 months ago, which equalled the benchmark under the current system set by Frankel in 2012, but he sits 7lb ahead of last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact and dual Group One victor Mostahdaf, who were both rated 128.
Christophe Lemaire rode Equinox in every start and he attended a glittering ceremony in London on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the son of Kitasan Black’s achievement.
Asked what it was like to ride Equinox, Lemaire joked: "To be honest it was quite enjoyable!
"Each time he ran there were big expectations, but I had so much confidence in the horse that I had no fear. To ride him, it was just a pleasure to be on a galloping horse.
"The way he ran was just amazing. Of course, I tried to do my job as well as possible and it was a great journey – I will miss him a lot.
"As have most top athletes, he had a combination of physical strength and mental strength. His physical allowed him to run fast and further using his beautiful stride, very well balanced and also he was very clever, so he understood very quickly what he had to do to win the race.
"My job was just to take a good start and put him in the right position to let him express his talent."
Equinox officially retired at the end of November, with thousands of people attending a ceremony for the horse in mid-December before he headed to his new role at Shadai Stallion Station.
Speaking through a translator, Kimura said: "I wasn’t prepared for it all (the praise he received after Dubai), I feel like I’ve still been in a dream since then.
"The expectations were very high (before the Japan Cup) and it was very difficult to stay calm, but Equinox showed an amazing start and he has the most beautiful stride in the world and he managed to beat all his rivals with his amazing stamina, so I have nothing else that I wanted from him at all."
To add to the Japanese laurels, the Japan Cup was named the best race in the world for the first time, with a rating assigned on the first four finishers.
Meanwhile, City Of Troy has been rated just 1lb lower than the figure achieved by the mighty Frankel as a two-year-old after being officially crowned the champion European juvenile of 2023.
The son of American Triple Crown hero Justify carried all before him in each of his three starts last season, landing a Curragh maiden and the Group Two Superlative Stakes before putting the seal on a memorable campaign with a scintillating Group One success in the Dewhurst at Newmarket.
With a rating of 125, the colt becomes the 13th champion juvenile trained by Aidan O'Brien and puts him only marginally behind Frankel and the Ballydoyle handler’s highest-rated two-year-old to date in Johannesburg, who were both given a mark of 126 following their respective debut seasons.
In the immediate aftermath of City Of Troy’s Dewhurst triumph, O’Brien said: "He is the best two-year-old we’ve trained, there’s no doubt", while part-owner Michael Tabor described the hugely-exciting colt as "our Frankel".
Reflecting on City Of Troy’s achievements, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s handicapper Mark Bird said: "City Of Troy proved himself the cream of the two-year-old crop in Europe this year with three impressive performances between July and October.
"His rating of 125 places him alongside high-class horses such as Zafonic and Fasliyev at the same stage of their careers and behind only four-time Group One-winning juvenile Johannesburg among his own stable’s illustrious roll call of European Champion Two-Year-Olds."
City Of Troy finished clear of his rivals in the final classification, with Phoenix Stakes hero Bucanero Fuerte best of the rest with a figure of 120.
City Of Troy’s stablemate Henry Longfellow, who defeated Bucanero Fuerte to land the National Stakes at the Curragh in September, achieved a mark of 119 to take joint-third honours alongside Simon and Ed Crisford’s Middle Park Stakes victor Vandeek, who is the highest-rated British-trained juvenile.
