Arrogate’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) was the top performance of the year based on proprietary data calculated by Brisnet.com, the official data source of TwinSpires.com and the Kentucky Derby.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte, Arrogate earned 115 Speed and 126.7 Class Ratings in winning the $6-million race on November 5 at Santa Anita Park. The win came following a Travers Stakes (G1) victory in which Arrogate registered a 124 Speed Rating – the highest ever since Brisnet.com began issuing ratings in 1990 – but Baffert felt the Classic win over 2014 Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner California Chrome was the better performance.
“That was the showdown the Classic is supposed to create,” Baffert said of the Breeders’ Cup. “It’s very rare to have the best two horses in the world run against each other.”
The pair could rematch in the $12-million Pegasus World Cup (G1) on January 28 at Gulfstream Park, but for 2016, there’s no doubt who put in the single best performance.
“In a year filled with superlative performances, Arrogate’s Breeders’ Cup Classic stands tall as an effort that looks to have been good enough to defeat any other horse this year on his or her best day, with the possible exception of Arrogate’s own Travers win,” Brisnet.com Director of Marketing Ed DeRosa said.
Arrogate was the only horse to register a pair of Speed Ratings of at least 115 in 2016, and his record 124 is one of only nine performances since 1990 to crack the 120 barrier. Speed measures how fast a horse ran; Class is a measurement of performance relative to the competition in the race.
Arrogate has won five consecutive races since losing his career debut on April 17 at Los Alamitos Race Course. Arrogate himself is an Eclipse Award finalist as Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male, and all his human connections are finalists as well: owner Juddmonte, trainer Baffert, jockey Mike Smith, and breeder Clearsky Farm.
Speed and Class Ratings are available in the Ultimate Past Performances on Brisnet.com and are free to TwinSpires.com players when they wager.
TwinSpires.com is the official wagering site of the Kentucky Derby, Breeders’ Cup, and the Churchill Downs Inc. family of tracks. To open an account, visit TwinSpires.com, call 1-877-SPIRES-1 (1-877-774-7371), or download our app from the Apple/iTunes Store.
as good as the two are. this is great news. arrogate wins horse of the year. but in my heart california chrome is better. just a cow bread.
I think California Chrome will be Horse of the Year, but the single best performance was unquestionably either Arrogate’s Travers or his Classic. We let Baffert pick. -EdD
california chrome raced all year everywhere and lost arrogate raced only 6 months and also lost once final answer chrome in narrow descion.