With the year coming to a close, we look back at the 2024 ratings’ stars from around the world.

Australia

Topping the 2024 ratings, not just for Australia, but for the world, was Via Sistina's breathtaking eight length win in the Cox Plate, running to 132 on the Racing & Sports ratings.

The last time an Australia trained horse was topping the worldwide rankings was Winx, and before her, Black Caviar, so for Via Sistina to do so, and do so emphatically, is quite the achievement.

All in all, Via Sistina ran seven times in 2024, all at Group One level, winning five of them. Her average RAS rating this year was 121 and it'll be interesting to see what sort of level she can reach again in 2025.

Honourable mention to the retired Pride Of Jenni who beat Via Sistina in the Queen Elizabeth with a RAS rating of 129, arguably the most exciting and memorable performance of the year. It was an unfortunate and abrupt end to her career but few horses have delivered such excitement in a short amount of time.

Hong Kong

A tie at the top for the highest rated individual performance in Hong Kong this year no doubt Romantic Warrior sits unchallenged as the best horse there, with a strong argument to be made he's the best in the world.

He ran to a new peak RAS rating of 128 at his most recent win, a stunning third victory in the Hong Kong Cup.

He's run five times in 2024, four at Group One level, winning all of them with an average RAS rating of 125.4, which is the highest in the world. He also travelled to Japan and won the Yasuda Kinen over 1600m with a rating of 125, which is in the top handful of performances in Japan for the year.

With some monumental challenges in the Middle East in 2025, Romantic Warrior can stamp himself as one of the all-time world-wide greats, with his last start suggesting he's at the absolute peak of his powers.

Honourable mention goes to Ka Ying Rising for his awesome 128 rating win in the Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint, which was the highest rated sprint performance in the world all year. He's very exciting heading into 2025 having raced 10 times in 2024, winning his past eight, going from an 80 rating race to a Group One win.

Japan

Interestingly, it's Prognosis who holds the highest rated performance in Japan for 2024, his five length Group 2 Kinko Sho win still holding the call at 129.

He ran five times in 2024, once in Australia and once in Hong Kong, unable to win another race although running admirably for second to Romantic Warrior and Via Sistina at the top level. In his five starts, his RAS average was 119.6.

While Prognosis holds the singular peak in Japan this year, it's Do Deuce with the best average rating having won two of the biggest Group Ones in the Tenno Sho and Japan Cup.

We only saw him four times, unfortunately retired leading into the Arima Kinen with an issue where he would've jumped an odds-on favourite, but he ran to 128 in his Tenno Sho win and 126 in his Japan Cup win, resulting in an average rating of 121.75.

Europe

City Of Troy was the highest rated horse in Europe during 2024 having run to 130 in his outstanding victory in the Juddmonte in blistering time. For a bit of context, Racing & Sports makes his speed figure that day to be 137, while Via Sistina's Cox Plate speed figure (smashing Winx's track record) was 132.

One of the more fascinating three-year-old seasons, City Of Troy was rated 125 at just his third ever start as a two-year-old with a huge win in the Dewhurst, sent out as an odds-on favourite in the Guineas and was beaten 17 lengths.

He bounced back incredibly to run to 125 and win the Derby, Coral Eclipse and Juddmonte before trying to tackle the American dirt monsters in the Breeder's Cup Classic where he again failed, bookending a remarkable campaign.

He ends 2024 with a RAS average of 117.4 owing to those two misses, while the highest average RAS rater from Europe this year was actually Charyn, who raced commendably often in 2024 – eight starts for five wins, three at Group One level, with starts in England, France and even Japan.

His peak rating was 128, achieved in the British Champions Mile over Facteur Cheval, who had beaten the likes of Namur, Do Deuce, Voyage Bubble, Lord North and Luxembourg in the Dubai Turf earlier in the year.

While beaten from a bad spot in Japan, Charyn ends 2024 with an average RAS rating a tick over 123, only dropping below 120 once – fine work.

He only just edges Arc winner Bluestocking who ran to a peak of 127 in that win, racing six times for four wins, three at Group One level, like Charyn, only dropping below 120 once, and averaging out to exactly 123, just 0.125 pouns below Charyn in that regard.

America

Rounding out our worldwide ratings' stars is America, a lot of which occurs on the dirt which isn't pronounced around the rest of the world.

Cult hero Thorpedo Anna equal-topped the highest rating performance list with her 129 effort in the Breeder's Cup Distaff.

She's a remarkable mare who raced seven times in 2024, winning six, five of those at Group One level, including a Breeder's Cup win, an American Oaks and a Kentucky Oaks.

Her only defeat came to Fierceness in the Travers where she still ran to a rating of 127 and was just nosed out, resulting in one of the highest average ratings worldwide for the year.

In her seven starts this year, her lowest rating was 115 and that was still a four-length win at Group 2 level.

Overall, she ends the year with an average RAS rating of 124, which is only bettered by Romantic Warrior worldwide.

National Treasure equalled Thorpedo Anna's peak, running 129 in his win in the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap (1609m), his second of two Group 1 wins for the year.

All in all, National Treasure ran five times in 2024 and ran to RAS ratings of 125-120-129-98-121, the only flop coming on a muddy surface while the 128 rated pair Fierceness and Sierra Leone rounded out the top four.

So there we have it. Ending 2024 atop the world as the highest rated horse, on average, is Romantic Warrior. Full results can be seen in the table below: