The eighth World Thoroughbred Rankings (WTR) Conference took place in Hong Kong in December, 2008, under the auspices of the World Rankings Supervisory Committee (WRSC).
The WTR (formerly the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings) are the official end-of-season assessments of the top horses across the globe. For the first time the 2008 Rankings - which were announced in January, 2009 - listed all world performances in the 2008 calendar year, irrespective of where individual horses raced or were trained.
In the past, two separate listings were published. The first in January, showing performances only by horses raced and trained in countries whose racing season runs from January to December, and the second list was published in August, containing only horses trained and raced in countries whose racing season runs from August to July.
To merit inclusion, a horse must be assessed at a rating of 115 or higher on performances during the period under review.
Godolphin’s Discreet Cat was named as the world’s top ranked three-year-old performer in 2006. This was a position he shared with H.H. Sheikh Mohammed’s Bernardini, having achieved a rating of 128 after remaining unbeaten, culminating with a decisive victory in the Grade One Hill ‘N’ Dale Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, USA.
New Approach, owned by H.R.H Princess Haya of Jordan, was jointly ranked world champion in 2008 on a mark of 130, which he shared with Curlin. New Approach was the world’s highest-rated turf performer.
In 2008, a third surface category was added to the traditional dirt and turf divisions. The new category was for artificial surfaces, primarily catering for the new synthetic tracks used increasingly in America after being introduced in Europe. H.R.H Princess Haya of Jordan’s Raven’s Pass, winner of the Grade One Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, was the 2008 world champion on an artificial surface with a mark of 129.
France, Great Britain and Ireland published the first internationally agreed assessment of racing merit in 1977 on behalf of the European Pattern Committee under the banner of the International Classifications, a predecessor of the WTR.
Germany and Italy joined the system in 1985, followed by Canada and the USA in 1995. The International Classifications continued to expand, with more countries becoming members, and in 1997 horses trained in Japan, the UAE and Hong Kong became eligible for inclusion, provided they had run in races open to international competition. Horses trained in Australia and New Zealand followed suit a year later.
During 2003, responsibility for the International Classifications was transferred from the European Pattern Committee to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA).
The inaugural World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings Conference was held in Hong Kong in December, 2004, and was attended by delegates from Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to those from the eight countries involved previously.
The 2008 WRSC, a panel of handicappers and racing secretaries affiliated to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), comprised representatives from Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the USA and the UAE.
Alongside the WTR, a list of the world’s leading horses is published 10 times a year by the IFHA whose Internet site is www.ifhaonline.org