A horse beaten over 22 lengths on the final three outings of his otherwise glittering career was named Longines World’s Best Racehorse Jan. 23 for the second consecutive year after Juddmonte Farms’ champion Arrogate  trumped Winx, Gun Runner , Cracksman, and Enable to take top honors.

In a verdict sure to spark debate, a panel of international handicappers determined that Arrogate’s remarkable last-to-first success in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) was sufficiently strong to merit superiority over a clutch of global stars who outshone him across the remainder of 2017.

Arrogate begins his stud career having been given a rating of 134, the same as he earned in 2016.

That figure was also the one handed to 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah , who kicked off what has become a World’s Best Racehorse hat-trick for trainer Bob Baffert.

Gun Runner, second behind Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup but 6 1/4-lengths his master in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), ended the year joint-third in the final rankings, tied with European champion Cracksman on 130.

Dividing them and Arrogate was Australian sporting icon Winx, who earned her runner-up figure of 132—one that secured her the titles of world’s best turf racehorse and world’s best filly or mare—by winning the group 1 George Ryder Stakes by seven and a quarter lengths in March.

Runaway Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) heroine Enable, a John Gosden-trained stable companion of QIPCO Champion Stakes (G1) hero Cracksman and owned, like Arrogate, by Khalid Abdullah, finished fifth in 2017′s overall league table on a 128 rating.

For fans of Enable there was at least consolation that the dual Oaks heroine’s outstanding success at Chantilly helped ensure the Qatar-backed Arc was named the world’s best horserace in 2017.

The QIPCO King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1), also dominated by Enable, received a significant boost by finishing the year as the world’s second-best race.

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Ulysses, placed behind Enable in both those contests but also victorious in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1) and Juddmonte International (G1) under Jim Crowley, was sixth in the world’s best racehorse standings on 126.

The Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings are updated throughout the year with final deliberations and adjustments taking place following the Hong Kong International races in December.

Compared to the last interim standings posted in November, which took into account the Breeders’ Cup, the figure for only one horse in the top five was amended, with Gun Runner being edged up a pound from 129 to 130.

The world’s top ten in 2017
1st: Arrogate 134
2nd: Winx 132
3rd: Cracksman, Gun Runner 130
5th: Enable 128
6th: Ulysses 126
7th: Cloth Of Stars, Harry Angel 125
9th: Collected, Kitasan Black, Ribchester 124

Other numbers to note . . .

— Harry Angel on 125 is the first European-trained outright champion sprinter since Oasis Dream in 2003. 

— Godolphin’s excellent year was highlighted by Sheikh Mohammed’s operation finishing with three horses—Harry Angel (125), Cloth Of Stars (125), and Ribchester (124)—in the global top 10. Arch-rival Coolmore had none.

— Six horses trained in Britain or Ireland finished in the top 10, compared to only two in 2016

— Ascot had three of the world’s top nine races in 2017— the King George, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and Champion Stakes.

— Odds-on Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) favorite Gun Runner showed exceptional consistency at the highest level by achieving a rating of 130 on four separate occasions in 2017, the marks being given for his grade 1 wins in the Stephen Foster Handicap, Whitney Stakes, Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, and Breeders’ Cup Classic.