Brilliant Baaeed a victim of racing's regrettable way of crowning champions

What constitutes greatness in a racehorse? And what makes one horse greater than the next?

Inevitably, these questions shape the backdrop to Baaeed's career-closing run in the Qipco Champion Stakes next month. That race will be pivotal to the rating he is given, which will forever sit beside his name in the World's Best Racehorse Rankings table.

It will be used to compare him with Frankel and his own sire Sea The Stars, and horses further down the line who have yet to be born. It is not necessarily definitive but it has official backing since it represents the ruminations of a team of international handicappers, each of them appointed by the authorities of the major racing jurisdictions.