Fact Of The Week: Gold Standard

Ever since the day that the great trainer Vincent O'Brien discovered Nijinsky on a yearling inspection trip way back in 1968, the course of elite breeding in Europe was changed forever. Of course, Nijinsky drew O'Brien's attention to the not inconsiderable merits of Northern Dancer, a stallion that still sets the standard today when it comes to producing elite racehorses. Looking at his best 10 European horses as ranked by Timeform, Northern Dancer can still claim to have a better group than his illustrious descendants Sadler's Wells and Galileo. Galileo may have Frankel, rated 10 points clear of the best by his sire and grandsire, but the sheer quality and breadth of Northern Dancer's best 10 is simply outstanding. His average rating of 133.3 is made all the more impressive by the fact that he only sired a fraction of the foals of his son and grandson. Remarkably, 18 of the horses listed were trained at Ballydoyle.