Best Racehorses of 2021

The 2021 European racing season saw three horses share the honour of being the year’s top-rated performer, one filly set a record that may stand for decades, there was a surprise win for Germany in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and the champion two-year-old finished the campaign rated 7lbs ahead of the best of the rest.Mishriff was the top-rated older horse, Adayar and St Mark’s Basilica shared the honours among three-year-olds, Baaeed was an undefeated standout in the mile division, and Native Trail was the best juvenile. Snowfall made considerable progress from being a two-year-old also-ran to the standout middle-distance three-year-old filly, winning the Oaks by 16 lengths, while Subjectivist took the stayers’ crown. Frankel was crowned champion sire for the first time, in the year where his great sire, Galileo, died.There is a total of 220 horses reviewed in Best Racehorses of 2021, each a winner at Group 1, Group 2 or Group 3 level during the year. They were all trained in Ireland or Great Britain and/or won at those levels in either of those two countries, and in addition to a discussion of their racing careers, there is an examination of their pedigrees, with a pedigree chart included for each one. There is also a comprehensive set of tables and indexes at the back of the book, listing all the winners by sire, grandsire, dam, broodmare sire, breeder, owner, trainer, month of birth, date of earliest win, and other valuable categories, plus a catalogue of all the races whose winners are reviewed.The most comprehensive review of the European Flat season available and produced by a racing and pedigrees writer with over 30 years’ experience, this book is by the author of Best Racehorses of 2020, European Group 1 Winners of 2019, European Group 1 Winners of 2018, and other titles. Read more