World's Leading Horses - From 1st Jul To 31st Dec 2005

The final edition of the World's Leading Horses of 2005, which covers the second half of the year, sees two Hong Kong trained horses feature prominently.

SILENT WITNESS (AUS) (123T) maintains his position as the World´s leading sprinter having won the JPN Group 1 Sprinters Stakes in October. Hong Kong´s second horse in the top 50 list is VENGEANCE OF RAIN (NZ) (122T), the top points earner in the World Racing Championships. His ranking improved considerably after his win in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup (Group 1) over 2000m / 1mile 2f at Sha Tin in December.

HURRICANE RUN (IRE) [130T] maintain his position at the top of the rankings on the strength of his 2 length victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe-Lucien Barriere (Group 1) at Longchamp (2400m / 1 mile 4f) in October.

WESTERNER (GB) [126T], runner-up to HURRICANE RUN in the Arc, shares second spot with AZAMOUR (IRE) [126T], whose best performance was achieved in winning the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (Group 1) at Newbury (2400m / 1 mile 4f) in July.

The top-rated Dirt performer in the list and leading intermediate distance horse is SAINT LIAM (USA) [125D], who scored his fourth Grade 1 victory of the year when taking the Breeders' Cup Classic ? Powered by Dodge at Belmont Park (2000m / 1 mile 2f) in October. Alongside him sharing fourth position is another Breeders' Cup winner in SHIROCCO (GER) [125T]. Having missed most of 2005, SHIROCCO showed his best form yet in capturing the John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf (Grade 1) at Belmont Park (2400m / 1 mile 4f).

There is a four-way tie for the sixth spot, between BAGO (FR) [124T], LEROIDESANIMAUX (BRZ) [124T], MAKYBE DIVA (GB) [124T] and STARCRAFT (NZ) [124T].

Although without a win since April, when he took the Prix Ganay (Group 1) at Longchamp (2100m / 1 mile 2?f), BAGO ran to 120 or more in four of his subsequent six races, showing a similar level of form to his successful 2004 campaign.

LEROIDESANIMAUX and STARCRAFT are rated the joint top milers in the period under review. LEROIDESANIMAUX put up his best performance when storming to a 7? length victory in the Atto Mile (Grade 1) at Woodbine (1600m / 1 mile) in September, while STARCRAFT achieved his rating twice in that same month, in both the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1) at Longchamp (1600m / 1 mile) and the Barclays PLC Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Newmarket (1600m / 1 mile).

MAKYBE DIVA (GB) [124T] has the distinction of being both the top filly or mare in the list, and also of having recorded the highest-rated staying performance in winning her third Emirates Melbourne Cup (Group 1) at Flemington (3200m / 2 miles) in November.

ALKAASED (USA) [123T] reaches the top ten for the first time having posted a career-best performance in winning the Japan Cup (Group 1) at Tokyo (2400m / 1 mile 4f) in November by a nose from HEART'S CRY (JPN) [122T]. HEART'S CRY confirmed the value of that form when taking the Arima Kinen (JPN Group 1) at Nakayama (2500m / 1 mile 4 ? f) on Christmas Day, when he held the late challenge of Japanese Triple Crown winner DEEP IMPACT (JPN) [121T].

The World´s Leading Horses are compiled by the World Rankings Supervisory Committee and published by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA).