Harbinger tops world rankings

Harbinger sits lordly above the rest of the world on the latest list produced by the World Thoroughbred Rankings committee. The 11-length winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is pegged at 135, or seven pounds higher than three-time Group 1 mile winner Canford Cliffs and eight pounds better than the leading American horse, Donn Handicap and Metropolitan Handicap winner Quality Road.

Quality Road shares third place with Workforce, seven-length winner of the Epsom Derby but King George flop. Milers Paco Boy and Rip Van Winkle are in a three-way tie for fifth with Vanity Handicap winner Zenyatta, while Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Byword, Prix Jean Prat winner Dick Turpin, Coronation Cup winner Fame and Glory, and Lope de Vega, winner of both the French 2000 Guineas and the French Derby, share eighth place at 124.

Retired Wood Memorial winner Eskendereya, Prix d’Ispahan and Queen Anne Stakes winner Goldikova, and Prince of Wales’s runner-up Twice Over, also the winner of the Eclipse Stakes, come next at 123. Other Americans who appear in the top 20 are Rachel Alexandra and Super Saver, both at 120.

The rankings are current through July 28 and so do not include either Lookin at Lucky’s victory in the Haskell Invitational or Goldikova’s win in the Prix Rothschild.