Australia & Mastercraftsman son are joint world-champions

Last year’s brilliant G1 Derby hero Australia (4c Galileo-Ouija Board, by Cape Cross) has been officially recognised for his outstanding achievements by being ranked jointly the world’s best three-year-old of 2014.

Australia was given a rating of 127 in the 2014 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, announced at a ceremony in London on Tuesday, after a fabulous season in which he also ran out a facile winner of the G1 Irish Derby at the Curragh. The son of Galileo achieved his highest rating when stepping back to 10 furlongs to win the G1 Juddmonte International at York.

Australia has retired to stand at Coolmore in 2015, covering for a fee of €50,000.

Mastercraftsman finished 2014 as champion second-crop sire and one of the main contributors to that title was The Grey Gatsby (4c Mastercraftsman-Marie Vison, by Entrepreneur), who joins Australia as one of the world’s joint-champion three-year-olds on a rating of 127.

Frank Gillespie’s colt was trained by Kevin Ryan to win the G2 Dante Stakes at York in May before going on to capture the G1 French Derby at Chantilly in June. He rounded off the season with victory in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September. The Grey Gatsby stays in training this year.