PRWC 2018 – Owner
5. Click here for the full Owner Championships of 2018
On the eve of the third running of the Pegasus Invitational, we will take a chance to review last years global Group One Pattern Races.
There is a hierarchy in The Pattern Race system, races are graded either G1, G2, G3 or Listed class, over 1,500 globally. The grading determines the hierarchy with G1 status elevating a race to the highest level. There were 314 G1 races run across the globe last year.
The Derby, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Cox Plate and Breeders Cup Classic, all for older horses are the top G1 races in their respective countries. There are top two-year old G1 races, the Dewhurst, Prix Marcel Boussac, Golden Slipper or Breeders Cup Juvenile, less lucrative in terms of prize money, stepping stones to the bigger races.
G1’s are run on dirt and turf, over distances between five furlongs and twenty furlongs, can be restricted to age groups or same sex.
We treat them equally to establish a world championships including all 314 G1’s.
The Pattern Race World Championships
Each race is allocated 10 points for a win, 7 points for second and 5 points for third, points scored in each race are accumulated and presented in championship format with categories for Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Breeders, Sires, and Horses.
Owner’s Category
Today we will review the Owner’s category, without them there wouldn’t be any racing, they are the bill payers.
For Godolphin 2018 was a great year, a resurgence, they top the Owners Table.
Podium Position | Owner | 1st Place Points | 2nd Place Points | 3rd Place Points | Total Points |
| 1 | Godolphin No Of Places | 300 (30) | 119 (17) | 95 (19) | 514 (66) |
| 2 | Coolmore No Of Places | 140 (14) | 161 (23) | 145 (29) | 446 (66) |
| 3 | Qatar Racing No Of Places | 50 (5) | 28 (4) | 10 (2) | 88 (11) |
The boys in blue finish top of the PRWC 2018 – Owner’s Category, a position they last held in 2015 beating Coolmore, winners in 2017 and 2016. Both made the rostrum sixty-six times, the thirty wins for Godolphin the deciding factor.
They scored their first points in February in Australia with a win by Hartnell in the Orr Stakes and finished the year with a third place in the last G1 in America, the La Brea Stakes on the 26th December.
They are truly a worldwide outfit operating across all major racing jurisdictions with an ever-widening net. England is the home to their principle trainers, Saeed bin Suroor and Charlie Appleby who provided a large haul of their points however the yards of James Cummings in Australia, Andre Fabre in France and Yoshitada Takahashi in Japan all won G1’s with horses entrusted to them, others also contributing to achieving their 514 points winning total.
Here is a table of points achieved by their trainers
| Godolphin Trainers | 1st Place Points | 2nd Place Points | 3rd Place Points | Total Points |
| Charlie Appleby (ENG) | 120 | 21 | 20 | 161 |
| Saeed bin Suroor (ENG) | 90 | 28 | 5 | 123 |
| James Cummings (AUS) | 60 | 28 | 15 | 103 |
| Andre Fabre (FR) | 10 | 28 | 30 | 68 |
| Yoshitada Takahashi (JPN) | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| H-A Pantall (FR) | 0 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| Clive Cox (ENG) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Willie McCeery (IRE) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Thomas Albertrani (USA) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Charlie Hills (ENG) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Bob Baffert (USA) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Total Points Scored | 300 | 119 | 95 | 514 |
Coolmore, the “lads” interests merged under the one banner, finished second on 446 points. In contrast to Godolphin the points accumulated over the season primarily come courtesy of trainer Aidan O’Brien and the Ballydoyle operation. There are contributions also from Andre Fabre, Chad Brown and Mark Casse.
| Coolmore Trainers | 1st Place Points | 2nd Place Points | 3rd Place Points | Total Points |
| Aidan O’Brien (IRE) | 140 | 154 | 130 | 424 |
| Andre Fabre (FR) | 0 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| Chad Brown (USA) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Mark Casse (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Total Points Scored | 140 | 161 | 145 | 446 |
The dominance of the leading pair is apparent. Qatar Racing’s total of 88 might be a distance behind the front two however it is still a great feat to reach the rostrum. John Gosden, David Simcock in England and Chris Waller in Australia were their contributors.
Qatar Racing Trainers | 1st Place Points | 2nd Place Points | 3rd Place Points | Total Points |
| John Gosden (ENG) | 40 | 0 | 5 | 45 |
| David Simcock (ENG) | 10 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| Chris Waller (AUS) | 0 | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| Total Points Scored | 50 | 28 | 10 | 88 |
Owners are brave people, often forgotten and unappreciated. We take for granted the amount of money they put into the game yet for most there is little prospect of getting it back. They are the wealthy playing the sport of kings. For most the dream – to have a horse carry their colours to a place finish in a G1 is that – a dream. Only 449 of them scored points across the world. They deserve the happiness a podium finish brings them. Congratulations if your one of them.
Over the course of the next few months we will review the other categories.
You can follow the story of the 2018 G1 Pattern Race year by clicking on the links below. There you’ll find how the 314 G1’s run during the year panned out in a championship format.