PARIS - US Triple crown winner American Pharoah was on Tuesday officially declared the best racehorse of 2015 while the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was rated the top race in the world.
Victor Espinoza rides American Pharoah in the William Hill Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, New Jersey, on August 2, 2015
As the first to land the coveted Triple Crown of Kentucky Derby-Preakness-Belmont Stakes in 37 years American Pharoah's award was fully justified.
The panel of international handicappers whose job it is to hand out the end-of-term marks gave the Bob Baffert-trained superstar a rating of 134.
The only American thoroughbred who has bettered that figure in recent seasons is 136-rated Cigar.
In American Pharoah's slipstream, on a rating of 130, came Golden Horn, the John Gosden-trained Epsom Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner.
The handicappers adjudged the Arc as the number one race in in the world, based on the quality of the first four horses home over the past three seasons.
The Breeders' Cup Classic, won last November by American Pharoah, was next best, with York's International Stakes in third.