Who is the world’s best racehorse? You may be surprised to learn that the official holder of that title for 2017 was Arrogate, whose dramatic Dubai World Cup performance was the highest-rated single performance of the year according to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. Unlike electoral trophies such as the Eclipse and Cartier awards, the IFHA’s annual World’s Best Racehorse Rankings are based on the single best performance by a horse every year instead of form over the whole year. Not surprisingly, Australia’s Winx, who won her 26th consecutive race on Aug. 18, tops the current 2018 list at 130 pounds, a pound above Pegasus Stakes winner Gun Runner and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Poet’s Word. If the results of Saturday’s Group 2 September Stakes at Kempton is any indication, however, Winx may not retain pride of place for very long. The September Stakes marked the return to racing of 2017 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Enable, who ranked fifth on the list last year behind Arrogate, Winx, Cracksman, and Gun Runner at 129 pounds, five behind Winx’s 2017 rating of 134. Enable’s September Stakes performance was auspicious because despite being perhaps 80-85 percent fit, according to her trainer, John Gosden, she administered a comfortable 3 ½-length beating to Crystal Ocean, who stands fourth on the 2018 rankings at 128 pounds, only two pounds behind Winx. The IFHA handicappers are unlikely to elevate Enable straight to the top of the rankings since she received eight pounds from Crystal Ocean instead of the standard European sex allowance of three pounds, but if Enable builds on her September performance in the Arc, well, you can see where this is headed. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Bred in England by Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, Enable is the fifth foal out of Abdullah’s listed stakes winner Concentric, by Sadler’s Wells. Concentric is a full sister to Group 2 winner Dance Routine, dam of 2016 champion grass male Flintshire, by Dansili, and a half-sister to Group 2 winner Apsis, by Barathea, and stakes winner Space Quest, by Rainbow Quest. In case you did not notice, that means Enable is inbred 3x2 to 14-time leading English sire Sadler’s Wells. Enable descends in tail female line from the Habitat mare Fleet Girl, whom Juddmonte acquired in the early 1980s through Abdulla’s purchase of Ferrans Stud in Ireland. Concentric, who also ran second in the Group 3 Prix de Flore, has since produced the winning 3-year-old colt Centroid, by Dansili; the once-raced 2-year-old filly Entitle, by Dansili; a yearling filly by Frankel; and a weanling colt by Sea The Stars. Enable is from the first crop of Nathaniel, the horse who came closest to beating Juddmonte’s undefeated Frankel during his epic 14-race career. That encounter came on their mutual first starts in a mile maiden at Newmarket on Aug. 13, 2010. Nathaniel led much of the way, but could not hold off Frankel’s closing burst by a half-length despite finishing five lengths clear of the remainder in the field. Trained by Gosden, Nathaniel won a maiden race in his first start at 3 before being beaten a nose by subsequent Irish Derby winner Treasure Beach in the Group 3 Chester Vase. He improved on that with a five-length defeat of Fiorente in winning the Group 2 King Edward VII at Royal Ascot before upsetting 2009 Epsom Derby winner Workforce by 2 ¾ lengths in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Nathaniel returned as a 4-year-old in 2011 to win the Group 1 Eclipse, but closed his career as he began it with a defeat by Frankel, this time finishing third by 4 ¼ lengths in the Group 1 Champion Stakes. Bred by his owner, Lady Bamford, Nathaniel has a pedigree that is as good as any, since he is by the great sire Galileo and one of no fewer than seven stakes winners out of the Group 3 Musidora Stakes winner Magnificient Style, by Silver Hawk. His Group 1-winning English highweight three-quarter sister Playful Act, by Sadler’s Wells, once held the record price for a broodmare at auction, eliciting a $10.5 million bid from John Ferguson for Sheikh Mohammed in 2007, and has produced three stakes winners. His full sister Great Heavens won the Group 1 Irish Oaks and also earned English highweight honors, as did Nathaniel himself at 3. In addition to Enable, Nathaniel, who stands at Newsells Park Stud, has sired Italian highweight Chasedown (out of Whipcla, by Whipper), Group 2 winner Pilaster (Portal, by Hernando), and Group 3 winners God Given (Ever Rigg, by Dubai Destination) and Precious Ramotswe (Miss Pinkerton, by Danehill) among his 10 black-type winners from 233 foals age 3 and up. Clearly Nathaniel was much more of an out-and-out stayer than Frankel, and that has and will work against him in his stud career. Any stallion capable of siring a filly as good as Enable, however, is obviously good enough for anyone.