Timeform's five best horses in training on turf

By John Ingles

Horse Racing

Mon March 27, 2023 · 2y ago

Timeform profile the world's current top performers on turf, headed by Saturday's impressive Dubai Sheema Classic winner Equinox.

Equinox (132)

Equinox stole much of the thunder from his Dubai World Cup-winning compatriot Ushba Tesoro by routing his field from the front earlier on the Meydan card in the Dubai Sheema Classic. Whilst Equinox had the world watching this time on his first venture overseas, in truth he was merely confirming himself the top-class colt he already looked in Japan where he was named Horse of the Year for his exploits as a three-year-old last year.

Having suffered his only two defeats when a close second in both colts’ classics, he returned later in the year to beat future Saudi Cup winner Panthalassa in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and beat another field of Japan’s top middle-distance performers in the Arima Kinen on Christmas Day.

FULL RACE: Meydan magic from Equinox in Sheema Classic

Christophe Lemaire was able to take things easy in the closing stages at Meydan on Saturday meaning Equinox has been rated value for more than the three and a half lengths by which he beat Irish Derby winner Westover yet Equinox was still able to break the track record.

More than anything else, that indicates conditions were very quick on the night which could therefore mean that the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita, where similar conditions are almost guaranteed, is his preferred autumn target rather than the Arc where quick ground is less likely to say the least.

Kyprios (131)

Timeform rated Kyprios the second-best horse in Europe last year, 6 lb behind the now-retired Baaeed compared with the 11 lb that separated the pair according to the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. The latter’s assessment didn’t really do justice to a season in which Kyprios went unbeaten in six starts, completing a unique ‘grand slam’ of top staying events in Britain, Ireland and France in the Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup, Irish St Leger and Prix du Cadran.

Kyprios went from strength to strength stepped up to staying trips in 2022, having raced only four times previously, taking the crown from Stradivarius as the best stayer around. Stradivarius was placed behind Kyprios at both Royal Ascot and Goodwood, where he went down by just a neck, but if his first three Group 1 wins were all gained by less than a length, Kyprios put up an extraordinary performance in a gruelling edition of the Prix du Cadran where he outclassed a mixed bag of rivals by upwards of 20 lengths despite hanging across the full width of Longchamp’s very wide straight.

Unfortunately, an infected joint has all but ruled Kyprios out of defending his Gold Cup title but he’ll be the one to beat again when hopefully returning in the top staying contests later in the year.

Nature Strip (131)

Australian sprinter Nature Strip put up not just one of the best performances at last year’s Royal Ascot but also one of the best by a sprinter in Europe in recent seasons when leaving his fifteen rivals for dead in the final furlong of the King’s Stand Stakes to win by four and a half lengths, a very wide margin for the minimum trip.

That added to a catalogue of wins in some of Australia’s top sprints since 2019, the most recent of which had been a third consecutive victory in the T. J. Smith Stakes at Randwick on his start prior to the King’s Stand. Due to turn nine later this year, he’s reportedly pleasing connections ahead of a bid for a four-timer in that same contest this Saturday, though he needs to put some lesser efforts behind him since Royal Ascot. Nature Strip didn’t need to be at his best to win a Group 2 event at Randwick on his first start back in Australia last September but has been beaten in his last three outings, including when only sixth in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington last month, a race he won in 2021 and finished second in last year.

Nature Strip is a brilliant winner of the King's Stand

Titleholder (130)

Equinox wasn’t the only Japanese horse to put up a top-class performance at the weekend. Five-year-old Titleholder returned looking at least as good as ever when trouncing a smart field, giving weight away all round, by upwards of eight lengths in the Nikkei Sho, a Group 2 contest at Nakayama which he also won last year.

Titleholder was sent off at 9/1 for last year’s Arc and led the field until under two furlongs out before weakening to finish only eleventh. The soft ground at Longchamp seemed a plausible excuse at the time, though given he won so well under similar conditions on Saturday it’s harder to blame the conditions alone for that below-par effort now. In any case, Titleholder didn’t fare much better back on a much firmer surface on his next start when around ten lengths behind Equinox in the Arima Kinen, fading into ninth, having again attempted to make all as usual.

A former Japanese St Leger winner, Titleholder’s best efforts last term came in the first half of the year when following up his Nikkei Sho success in the Tenno Sho (Spring) over two miles at Hanshin and the Takarazuka Kinen, another Group 1 at the same track over eleven furlongs and a contest which could see him coming up against Equinox again in June.

Vadeni (130)

Vadeni was Europe’s top-rated three-year-old last year, something he proved when coming out best at the weights when splitting the mare Alpinista and the previous year’s winner Torquator Tasso when going down by half a length in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Whilst it would be stretching things to call Vadeni an unlucky loser, he didn’t enjoy such a smooth run in the straight as the winner, conceding her a head-start of around four lengths whilst encountering traffic in mid-division.

The Arc proved Vadeni’s effectiveness on soft ground over a mile and a half after he’d shot to prominence earlier in the season with some speedier performances, running out an impressive five-length winner of the Prix du Jockey Club and following up by coming from last to first to beat high-class rivals Mishriff, Native Trail, Lord North, Bay Bridge and Alenquer in the Eclipse.

Jean-Claude Rouget has already won the Arc with Sottsass, a four-year-old who’d been placed in the race the year before after winning the Jockey Club, and will be bidding to do the same with Vadeni. Races like the Prix Ganay and Prince of Wales’s Stakes have been mentioned as possible races for him in the first half of the year.

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