Louis Romanet, the Chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), today announced the appointment of Phil Smith, Head of Handicapping for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), as co-chairman of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee, replacing Garry O’Gorman, Senior Flat Handicapper for the Irish Turf Club who has decided to stand down after serving six years in the position. Nigel Gray, Head of Handicapping and Race Planning for The Hong Kong Jockey Club will remain in his current capacity as co-chairman.
Both gentlemen will serve a three-year term that commenced 1 February 2014.
“One of the key objectives of the IFHA is to promote horse racing throughout the world and as such the Federation publishes the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings,” Romanet said. “The development and interest in the Rankings would not have been possible without the contribution of Garry O’Gorman and we thank him for his time as co-chairman of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee. I am confident that under the leadership of Nigel Gray and Phil Smith, the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings will continue to be the global standard for rating the best horses in our sport.”
Phil Smith, Head of Handicapping for BHA, added:
“I am honoured to be appointed Co-Chairman of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee and am looking forward to working closely with Nigel Gray who was my manager at BHA and its predecessor BHB for more than ten years.
“I have been helped hugely by my team of Handicappers at BHA as between us we now assess every Pattern Race run in the world every week. I hope to be able to help to develop further the service that the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings provide to the racing industry worldwide.”
The Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings Committee is responsible for the compilation of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings that are published by the IFHA. The Rankings are based on the ratings earned by horses running worldwide from North and South America, Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Asia through to Australia and New Zealand. In 2013, Black Caviar (AUS) [130] and Treve (FR) [130] topped the year-end 2013 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings and were honoured as the joint top rated horses at the first Longines World’s Best Racehorse Ceremony held during the Longines Hong Kong International Races on 6 December 2013.
