Who are the top 20 horses in Australian racing?

This Saturday’s Kingston Town Classic (1800m, Group 1, weight-for-age) is the last Group 1 of the calendar year.

Having put another great Spring Carnival behind us now is a fantastic time to take stock and rank the best 20 horses in training in Australia.

After the 2013 retirements of Black Caviar, Atlantic Jewel, Pierro, All Too Hard, Ocean Park and five-time Group 1 winner Shoot Out there are plenty of new faces at the top of Australian racing.

Here are my top 20 Australian racehorses in active training. For the purposes of this exercise I’ve included New Zealand-trained thoroughbreds on the basis of their Australian performances.

And it is a Kiwi that kicks us off.

1. It’s A Dundeel (Country/State: New Zealand, Age: four-year-old, Group 1 wins: five, favourite distance range: middle distance)
It’s A Dundeel’s five victories at Group 1 level mean he has more top-level victories than any other horse in active training in Australia.

He is just one of five horses in history to have won the Australian three-year-old Triple Crown and was the only horse to beat the wonder-mare Atlantic Jewel.

Still, I don’t think It’s A Dundeel can be called a champion yet. Even though he is a six-length winner of an Australian Derby (2400m, Group 1, three-year-olds) I’ve got a little distance query about him in a mile and a quarter race against the best company.

Even so, his record means he is deserving of his mantle as the nation’s best. But I’d go as far as saying that he will need to win a Championship race in the autumn to retain this title at the end of the season.

2. Happy Trails (South Australia, six-year-old, two, middle-distance)
Happy Trails is now trained in Victoria but he won this ranking of two on the back of performances for South Australian trainer Paul Beshara so I’ve classified him as a South Aussie.

It’s hard to believe how far this horse has come in 18 months but he is now one of the stars of Australian racing.

He beat Fiorente home in the Turnbull (2000m, Group 1, set weights and penalties) and Cox Plate (2040m, Group 1, weight-for-age) and it was a fantastic fourth in It’s A Dundeel’s Underwood (1800m, Group 1, weight-for-age) that made me believe in his middle distance credentials.

Almost black-marked as a miler, a more seasoned Happy Trails is probably the best 2000m horse in Australia right now.

If Happy Trails continues to improve over summer he could exit the autumn as the best horse in the country. You could argue he already is.

3. Fiorente (New South Wales, six-year-old, one, middle-distance/staying)
I’ve got the Melbourne Cup (3200m, Group 1, handicap) winner as the third-best horse in Australia on the basis of his fantastic performances throughout the year. He was arguably the best run when third in the Cox Plate and his Cup victory came in what was widely regarded as the deepest ever Melbourne Cup.

On those performances in the majors, Fiorente is one of Australian racing’s biggest drawcards and is the pin-up horse among the nation’s imported gallopers.

4. Zoustar (New South Wales, three-year-old, two, sprint-mile)
A serious lack of depth at the top of Australian racing means that Zoustar, a three-year-old, slots into number four on the back of a trio of thrilling victories over the Spring Carnival against his own age.

It’s hard to justify having Zoustar ranked so high because his Group 1 victories have been by relatively narrow margins against an untapped three-year-old sprinting brigade.

But my eye tells me this is a freakishly-talented horse whose acceleration can take him to Group 1 victories at international level. By the end of the season he may be the obvious choice for Australia’s best horse.

5. Guelph (New South Wales, three-year-old, four, mile)
Guelph gets a ranking of five after dominating the fillies’ races in the Spring Carnival. A professional filly, Guelph has disposed of her Group 1 opposition by using a brilliant turn of foot (in the Sires Produce), coming from last (Champagne), leading (Thousand Guineas) or sitting wide (Flight). She is practically bombproof.

The only question is whether she can graduate to weight-for-age racing. And that’s why she’s not ranked higher.

6. Boban (New South Wales, four-year-old, two, sprint-mile)
Boban came from nowhere to be one of the stars of the Spring Carnival. A pair of 1600m Group 1 handicap victories takes him to this ranking of six.

Boban’s outstanding turn of foot should see him make light work of the transition to weight-for-age racing.

If Chris Waller wants to win another Doncaster (1600m, Group 1, handicap) he can do it with Boban. Equally, if he’d rather win the $4m Queen Elizabeth (2000m, Group 1, weight-for-age) Boban is good enough to be set for the autumn’s big race.

7. Buffering (Queensland, six-year-old, three, sprint)
Buffering’s three Spring Carnival Group 1s makes him the obvious choice for Australia’s best sprinter. And as a genuine weight-for-age star so far this season, he deserves a ranking in the top ten.

But because I don’t think our sprinting ranks are very strong I can’t have him any higher than seventh.

8. Fawkner (Victoria, six-year-old, one, middle-distance)
Like Happy Trails, Fawkner is one of the big improvers in Australian racing. He gets into the top ten on the back of a strong third in the Turnbull, his victory in the Caulfield Cup (2400m, Group 1, handicap) and a good sixth in the Melbourne Cup.

For Fawkner’s progression to continue he’s going to need to make the step-up to weight-for –age racing in 2014. How successful he is in that endeavour will determine if he holds his top-ten ranking.

9. Shamus Award (Victoria, three-year-old, one, middle-distance)
Shamus Award’s Cox Plate victory wins him a ranking in the top ten. This horse has been racing against the best horses of his age group since debuting on Cox Plate Day last year.

This spring he went to a new level by producing, in defeat, the best runs in both the Stutt (1600m, Group 2, three-year-olds) and Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Group 1, three-year-olds).

Natural improvement means he can continue to be a force at weight-for-age in the autumn.

10. Foreteller (New South Wales, seven-year-old, two, middle-distance)
Foreteller is no superstar, but a string of very good performances in important races take him to tenth in my rankings. He is a dual Group 1 weight-for-age winner and was a strong fourth in the Cox Plate.

I’d go as far as saying Foreteller is the best benchmark horse in Australia. By that I mean if a middle-distance horse proves their superiority to Foreteller then they are an outstanding galloper but if the Waller runner holds firm then that horse is just below the truly elite level.

11. Samaready (Victoria, four-year-old, two, sprint)
Samaready has been plagued by injury but when fit she has proven herself to be an outstanding sprinter.

Her demolition of the 2012 Blue Diamond (1200m, Group 1, two-year-olds) was one of the better wins in that race’s history, while her victory in September’s Moir (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age), when she made an off-colour Buffering look average, was dominant.

She’s the sleeper in the top 20. Only poor health stands between Samaready and a big 2014.

12. Fiveandahalfstar (New South Wales, four-year-old, two, middle-distance/staying)
Fiveandahalfstar missed the Spring Carnival through injury but remains a key player in Australian racing on the back of a three-year-old season that netted Group 1 victories in the Victoria Derby (2500m, Group 1, three-year-olds) when he beat home Super Cool and It’s A Dundeel, and the BMW (2400m, Group 1, weight-for-age) when he had Foreteller finish in his wake.

He’ll need to have an impressive autumn campaign to justify his position in the top 15 of Australian racing.

13. Hawkspur (New South Wales, four-year-old, one, middle-distance/staying)
Hawkspur’s Spring Carnival ended in disappointment after luckless but creditable performances in both the Turnbull and Caulfield Cup before a dismal failure in the Melbourne Cup.

At his best, when fifth in the Turnbull, Hawkspur proved himself to be at a comparable level to Fiorente. That means a big autumn would not shock.

14. Puissance De Lune (Victoria, six-year-old, none, middle-distance/staying)
Puissance De Lune had an incredibly disappointing Spring Carnival but providing he makes it back to the races, there’s still a very big win in this horse.

He actually beat Fawkner, Fiorente and Hawkspur home in the Turnbull and was second to Foreteller in the Makybe Diva (1600m, Group 1, weight-for-age).

15. Sea Moon (Victoria, six-year-old, none, staying)
Sea Moon is a hard horse to rank. On his European form he could easily be entrenched in the middle of the top ten but on his Australian form, where he has performed well in handicaps, he may be ranked too high at 15.

On the back of his Herbert Power (2400m, Group 2, handicap) victory with 59.5kgs, when history said he should not have won, I’ve got him at 15. Had he run in the Caulfield Cup, I suggest he would have run in the top three and thus would’ve been an obvious pick for the top 15.

16. Shamexpress (Victoria, four-year-old, one, sprint)
Shamexpress is a safe pick at 16 on the back of a couple of outstanding performances at Flemington this year.

He won the Newmarket (1200m, Group 1, handicap) with a featherweight before putting in a career-best effort when finishing a closing second to Buffering in the VRC Sprint Classic (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age).

Shamexpress is the third best sprinter in Australia behind Buffering and Samaready.

17. Moment Of Change (Victoria, five-year-old, one, sprint)
At his best Moment Of Change is a fantastic sprinter. He ran Black Caviar to respectable margin in the Black Caviar Lightning (1000m, Group 1, weight-for-age) in February.

His close-up second to Buffering in the Winterbottom (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age) last month was perhaps the best performance of his career. It followed solid efforts in the Manikato (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age) when he was fourth after missing the start and VRC Sprint Classic when he was third.

18. Polanski (Victoria, three-year-old, one, middle-distance/staying)
Polanski’s demolition of the Victoria Derby field may be remembered as the first shot fired in the career of a super stayer.

This year’s Derby was so truly run and Polanski so strong at the finish that a Melbourne Cup campaign in 2015, if not next year, will be irresistible for the Robbie Laing team.

The Polanski camp is in possession of the most exciting stayer, outside of Fiorente, in the country.

19. Luckygray (Western Australia, six-year-old, three, mile/middle-distance)
I like to assess Group 1 horses on their performances in big Group 1s, usually in Sydney or Melbourne, so on that basis Luckygray is fortunate to make the top 20. His eastern state form is only average for a top-liner.

But in Western Australia he is a completely different horse. As a dual Railway winner (including in this year’s edition with the top weight), he is clearly the best horse in that state and is worthy of his spot in the top 20.

He is favoured to add a fourth Group 1 to his resume in Saturday’s Kingston Town.

20. Complacent (New South Wales, three-year-old, one, middle-distance)
Complacent scrapes into the top 20 on Spring Carnival performances in three-year-old staying races. He won the Spring Champion (2000m, Group 1, three-year-olds) at Randwick and was second in the Victoria Derby.

Perhaps not everyone will agree with his inclusion but I like Complacent’s style. He has a good turn of foot and can run a strong 2000m. He may be a Queen Elizabeth horse in the autumn and if you listen to trainer Peter Snowden speak about Complacent you’ll quickly understand the outgoing Darley conditioner has an incredible opinion of this horse.

Unlucky horses to miss out on my top 20: Long John, Red Tracer, Dear Demi, Royal Descent, Super Cool, Overreach and Silent Achiever