YORK Racecourse's flagship contest, the £850,000 Group 1 Juddmonte International, is officially the best race in the world.

The mile-and-a-quarter feature of the opening day of Knavesmire's Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival in August has been ranked number one of all thoroughbred races across the globe by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

That puts the Juddmonte ahead of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Japan Cup, the Dubai World Cup - and a host of other top class racing contests.

Official performance ratings for the first four horses past the winning post over the last three seasons in all the world's big races were assessed by a panel and that concluded that star horses such as Frankel, Australia, The Grey Gatsby and Declaration of War had combined to make the Juddmonte the strongest race on the planet.

A thrilled William Derby, chief executive and clerk of the course at York, said: "This is a fantastic endorsement of the quality of racing at York. For the Juddmonte International, our flagship race, to be officially ranked number one of every race run around the world is a tremendous tribute to everyone associated with York Racecourse and Juddmonte Farms.

"We remain hugely grateful and appreciative of the support we receive from so many individuals and organisations in helping stage top quality racing at York. Having staged the number one race in the world is a huge accolade for York, Yorkshire and British racing and we are determined to keep building on this accolade and to keep delivering fantastic racing action, facilities and experience at York into the future."

Overall, British racing stages eight of the top 16 contests with the QIPCO Champions Stakes, held at Ascot, in the top three. The Juddmonte International has been sponsored by Juddmonte Farm owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah, since 1989.

Douglas Erskine Crum, chief executive of Juddmonte Group, added: "This is wonderful news for both York and Juddmonte. This is a race that Prince Khalid has sponsored for over 26 years and it is a great tribute to his support and to York Racecourse that it has firmly established itself at the very top of world racing."

Prize money for the event, which was first run by Roberto in 1972, has almost doubled in size in the last decade and this year's renewal, staged on Wednesday, August 19, will be the richest ever staged at York.

It should be contested again by last year's runner up, The Grey Gatsby, and his Hambleton-based trainer Kevin Ryan said: "It is great news that the Juddmonte International has been rated the best race in the world.

"York is a track we love to have winners at and it would be very special to win the Juddmonte International in 2015, especially so close to home."

Aidan O'Brien, the trainer of Australia and Declaration of War from his Ballydoyle stables, added: "It's a race we love to win and we have been fortunate enough to do so with five great horses. Looking at some of the placed horses that we have had in it, we are not surprised that it came out on top."