It seems so long ago now but the release of the final 2009 international classifications was only last week and the format managed to throw another curve ball into it.
One could almost feel the misery with which the list had been resolved with Sea The Stars on 'only' 136 for his Irish Champion Stakes victory and 'only' 131 for winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Still, he was lucky enough to get two separate listings on the different figures, while others had to make do with multiple listings only if they repeated the same peak rating and any lesser figures by the same horses dropped off the page, even if they fell within the borders of the ratings at 115 and above.
We didn't quite understand how that worked both ways, but we often don't understand bits and pieces in the international classifications.
We hope someone does but fear the worst.
On the positive side, though, the classifications had a healthy roll call of horses from Australia and different parts of Asia among the gazillion or so who made the cut, and the list now looks a more relevant exercise than it ever did 10 or even five years ago when such jurisdictions were included only for novelty value.