Into Mischief’s Laurel River shares 2024 World’s Best Racehorse title
January 23, 2025
Laurel River, record-breaking winner of the 2024 Dubai World Cup (G1), earned co-honors as the World’s Best Racehorse of 2024, along with City of Troy, with a ranking of 128, at the recent Longines Racing Awards in London.
A Juddmonte homebred son of Into Mischief, Laurel River has not raced since that victory, but is being pointed to the Saudi Cup (G1) in February. He has been training steadily and is expected to run at Meydan in Dubai on Jan. 24 as a prep for the $20 million Saudi Cup.
Douglas Erskine Crum, CEO of Juddmonte Farms, said, “He was one of the last homebred horses that Prince Khalid decided the mating for, so he is particularly important for us.”
Laurel River won the Dubai World Cup by 8 ½-lengths, and prior to that won the Burj Nahaar (G3) by 6 ¾-lengths over the same track. Prior to 2024, the now 7-year-old was based in North America, where he won the 2022 Pat O’Brien S. (G2). His lifetime earnings are currently $7,470,676.
By comparison, Longines highest-rated North American-based horses in 2024 were Sierra Leone and Fierceness, both at 125.