The handicapper has only put Ulysses on 121, looks like they have judged the race on the 3rd despite the fact that he wasnt even involved in the race. 117 COM btn - 4 1/2L 116 Eminent btn - 4 3/4L 119 Decorated Knight btn - 5 1/2L 120 Lightning Spear btn - 7 3/4L Hes put the 3rd Desert Encounter from 109 to 114 and rated the front two off that. So we are to believe that 4 bordering on Group 1 animals all ran half a stone below their best on the day?
Com and Decorated Knight were both taken out by Taj Mahal, and Lightning Spear pulled like a train for the first half a mile so it's not possible to use there runs to evaluate the form. It's hard to make a strong case for having Ulysses any higher than 121. Barney Roy could have run to any rating, although I suspect 120 is probably fair, and the third had never even run in a group race before that and if they wanted to take a dim view of the race his run may have flattered him. In fact if there hadn't been that incident with Taj Mahal he would probably have finished fifth or sixth and his rating would be left as it was.
Interesting how 2 organisations see things so differently https://www.timeform.com/horse-raci...atings-update-ulysses-still-on-the-up-1072017
The latest World’s Best Racehorse Rankings were published on 11th July for races up until 9th July. The top two had not changed – Arrogate is top on 134 with Winx second on 132. The first European on the list is Ribchester at 124, followed by Churchill, Highland Reel and Jack Hobbs on 123. They are the only Europeans in the first ten, illustrating the paucity of quality of the current generations in Europe (admittedly top-ranked European Almanzor has not raced). On a rating of 121 can be found a number of the European Classic generation: Brametot, Caravaggio, Enable and Barney Roy. They share that mark with Big Orange and Ulysses as well as the Japanese Kitasan Black and Satono Crown.
