This year's Cartier Horse Of The Year Awards are set to be a cracker with the flat season all but over and now the rankings of the horses are starting to be finalised and we have a round up.
One of the big shocks of the current Cartier rankings saw Palace Pier still be labelled as the best miler this season despite being beaten by Baaeed in the QEII Stakes at Ascot.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old had landed the Lockinge, Queen Anne Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois this season, but last time out suffered only the second loss of his career, in a race he has never managed to conquer.
Baaeed announced himself as the next best thing in the mile division but according to the rankings Palace Pier is still the horse of the year on 168 points, with the QEII victor in joint 11th with 88 points.
Second behind Gosden's miler is the superstar St Mark's Basilica who sits on 160 points after landing five straight Group One events, four of them this season, the top two horses in the Cartier awards have now been retired.
What a racehorse this is! Baaeed beats Palace Pier in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes sponsored by QIPCO! @JimCrowley1978, William Haggas and @ShadwellStud have a machine on their hands! pic.twitter.com/MViU2jBSy5
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 16, 2021
Palace Pier also heads the rankings in the Older Horse division ahead of stablemate Mishriff, who is 60 points behind on 108 following his fourth-place finish in the Champion Stake, with Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Torquator Tasso on 96 points.
In the staying division this season Trueshan has taken over as the one to beat from Stradivarius who has picked up the award in this category for the last few years.
On 84 points the Alan King trained stayer is 24 points ahead of his rival for John & Thady Gosden, who is also tied alongside Gold Cup winner Subjectivist.
In the Sprinting division, although landing the British Champions Sprint Stakes, Creative Force was not able to move to the top of the sprinting ranks with Starman sitting pretty on 64 points after his July Cup win.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained pair of fillies Mother Earth and Snowfall both sit on 144 and remain at the head of the Three-Year-Old Filly category despite being well beaten at Ascot last week.
The 31st Cartier Racing Awards will be awarded on November 10th with nothing officially decided until then.