Over the years there have been a number of great horses to grace the sport.
The likes of Red Rum, Desert Orchid, Yeats, Arkle, and Frankel are just a few of the most famous and best race horses, but what are the current best National Hunt and Flat horses around?
We have picked some of the best horses from both – find out who we have gone with below, and take a look at our latest horse racing odds here.
National Hunt
Tiger Roll
Every superlative has already been used for Tiger Roll, but he is simply one of the best horses to have ever graced the sport.
He has literally won everything in front of him, becoming the first horse since Red Rum to win back-to-back Grand Nationals in April.
Tiger Roll is one of the most complete jumpers in recent years having won the Triumph Hurdle over the minimum National Hunt trip of 2m, and also the Grand National – the longest race of them all.
Altior
Another National Hunt great, Altior’s record speaks for itself.
At the Cheltenham Festival in March he extended his winning streak to a record-equalling 18 races with a second consecutive success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The record he matched was that of Big Buck’s – who won all 18 over hurdles, while Altior has won the lot over both hurdles and fences.
Will he break that record? We cannot wait to find out!
Espoir D’Allen
Espoir D’Allen’s Champion Hurdle win has propelled him to the top hurdles mark in the country, with a timeform rating of 170.
He had shown plenty of quality in the past, but few believed he could come out on top and see off the challenge of several great horses including Buveur D’Air and Apple’s Jade in the Champion Hurdle.
Whether the five-year-old can build on that win remains to be seen.
Paisley Park
There are few greater stories in horse racing than this one.
Owner Andrew Gemmell has been blind since birth and has never seen a racehorse, yet he appears to have an understanding of the horse.
Paisley Park almost died two years ago from a serious illness yet for trainer Emma Lavelle and Aidan Coleman, he has now provided two Group One wins.
He came up against Faugheen at the Cheltenham Festival in the Stayers’ Hurdle in March, and though he never looks the classiest of horses, he battles and always finds a way to get to the finishing line first.
The true people’s champion of a horse.
Pentland Hills
Pentland Hills was the surprise winner of the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival as he saw off the challenge of Couer Sublime and Gardens of Babylon to take the crown.
The story around the winner is all the more special with the owners having to pay just £57 a year to own the horse, which is part of a 3,000 strong syndicate.
It was almost disaster at the first fence of the race with a blunder, but the owners were delighted with the win, and picked up more money from the bookmakers for the win then they did from their share in the horse.
Flat
Enable
Arguably one of the great Flat horses ever, winning 10 of her 11 races and dominating all before her.
She ended 2018 in the best possible way – a Breeders’ Cup Turf win at Churchill Downs in November 2018.
That win made her the first horse to win the race having won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year, having already won the Arc the previous year as well.
Blue Point
Blue Point made it back-to-back triumphs in the King’s Stand on Tuesday at Royal Ascot and that cements him as one of the top horses around at this moment in time
He showed what was to come when winning the Gimcrack Stakes and then being placed in the Richmond Stakes, Middle Park Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes.
He continued to develop into a top class sprinter when taking the Pavillion Stakes and Bengough Stakes, and he added to that with the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday to become the first horse since Choisir in 2003 to do the double in the King’s Stand and Diamond Jubilee.
Following that victory, trainer Charlie Appleby confirmed Blue Point will be retired, ending his career as one of the most successful horses around.
Stradivarius
Stradivarius is the top-class stayer around and has won pretty much everything possible over the last few years to establish himself as one of the best horses of his generation.
A Queen’s Vase and Goodwood Cup win as a three-year-old was just the start of a blossoming career and what he achieved next was simply sublime.
As a four-year-old he scooped the Yorkshire Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, a second Goodwood Cup and the Lonsdale Cup, which secured him a £1million bonus for winning all four.
He ended that year with a win of the Long Distance Cup on British Champions Day at Ascot.
This season he carried on where he left off with a win of the Yorkshire Cup ahead of a second Gold Cup.
Calyx
Calyx unfortunately wasn’t able to run at Royal Ascot this year after sustaining a pastern injury, but is still undoubtedly one of the horses set for a bright future.
First came on the scene with a win in a Novice Stakes at Newmarket last year before winning the Group Two Coventry Stakes at the Royal meeting last year.
As a three-year-old he started the year in fine fettle with a Pavilion Sakes win over No Nonsense and Konchek.
The one blip came last time out when beating by Hello Youmzain in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock.
It would have been interesting to see how he fared in the Commonwealth Cup, but we wait with bated breath for his return.
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