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Duke is the best turf horse in the world, say Timeform

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But Curlin is the best horse overall.

Timeform Global Rankings, published today, see Duke of Marmalade rated as the leading turf horse in the world following his two recent victories at Ascot. Aidan O'Brien's four-year-old recorded his career-best Timeform rating of 133 when winning the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the end of July.

But it is Curlin, with a rating of 134, who narrowly gets Timeform's vote as the best horse in the world, on the evidence of his convincing victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup. With the recent announcement that his turf campaign is to be postponed, Curlin will take all the beating back on dirt at Saratoga in the Woodward Stakes, his next intended target, at the end of August.

Curlin's three-year-old compatriot, Big Brown, returned after an eight-week break at Monmouth Park last weekend and showed plenty of determination to win the Haskell International. Whether the much-anticipated meeting with Curlin ever takes place (the Woodward would seem ideal) seems doubtful, but there's every chance that Big Brown will be right back at his best (132 recorded in Kentucky Derby) with that run behind him and that would be good enough to make Curlin have to pull out all the stops.

The next stages of Weekend Hussler's career in Australia should be followed with interest as Gary Crispe, the compiler of the Australian Timeform ratings, believes Weekend Hussler is the best Australian three-year-old for ten years. Therefore, depending on the attentions of the Racing Victoria handicapper, he has live prospects of winning the major Spring races in Australia, the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup. Northerly in 2002 showed it is possible to win the Caulfield Cup before backing up a week later to win the Cox Plate and, in Crispe's opinion, Weekend Hussler is every bit as good as Northerly.

THE GLOBAL TOP 20

1 - CURLIN (S M Asmussen, USA) - a134

2 - DUKE OF MARMALADE (A P O'Brien, Ireland) - 133

3 - BIG BROWN (R E Dutrow, jnr, USA) - a132

3 - PAPAL BULL (Sir Michael Stoute, GB) - 132§

5 - HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (A P O'Brien, Ireland) - 131

5 - NEW APPROACH (J S Bolger, Ireland) - 131

5 - SACRED KINGDOM (P F Yiu, Hong Kong) - 131

8 - RAVEN'S PASS (J H M Gosden, GB) - 130

8 - SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (A P O'Brien, Ireland) - 130

8 - TARTAN BEARER (Sir Michael Stoute, GB) - 130

8 - WEEKEND HUSSLER (Ross McDonald, Australia) - 130

8 - YOUMZAIN (M R Channon, GB) - 130

13 - GETAWAY (A Fabre, France) - 129

13 - GOOD BA BA (A Schutz, Hong Kong) - 129

15 - MONTMARTRE (A de Royer Dupre, France) - 128+

15 - SAKHEE'S SECRET (H Morrison, GB) - 128

15 - SEPTIMUS (A P O'Brien, Ireland) - 128

18 - APACHE CAT (Greg Eurell, Australia) - 127

18 - ARCHIPENKO (M F de Kock, South Africa) - 127

18 - MARCHAND D'OR (F Head, France) - 127

18 - MATSURIDA GOGH (S Kunieda, Japan) - 127

18 - MISS ANDRETTI (Lee Freeman, Australia) - 127

18 - VIVA PATACA (J Moore, Hong Kong) - 127

18 - YEATS (A P O'Brien, Ireland) - 127