Istabraq was vastly overrated (Timeform have him on 180 alongside Monksfield) for beating some very average opponents imho. And how Limestone Lad got to 177 (alongside Constitution Hill and 2lbs ahead of Sea Pigeon on 175) is another baffling one too.
Seperately, the problem with the ratings Arkle (212) and Flyingbolt (210) got in comparison to NH chasers of recent years is that outside of the King George and Gold Cup there were very few (if any) level weight races for them to run in, so they mainly ran in the big handicaps (both side of the Irish Sea) giving huge lumps of weight away and still winning.
Whereas now baring one or two very few exceptions the top NH horses are running in level weight races (or reverse handicaps as I like to call them) facing rivals that would likely be in receipt of 14lbs or more if it were a handicap. For me that is why I gravitated to Denman more than Kauto Star because of his two top weight carrying winning performances in the old Hennessy, even though Kauto Star was clearly the more naturally talented and versatile of the two.
If you look up some of the achievements of Arkle (and Flyingbolt who doesn’t get close to the recognition he deserves) they were absolutely freakish in nature. Arkle thrashed Mill House in the Gallagher Gold Cup at Sandown, I believe giving him something like 16lbs and he broke the 3m course record doing it (a record that still stands to this day) and yes Mill House probably wasn’t the same force of old when Arkle beat him in his 1st Gold Cup win but could you even begin to imagine Kauto Star trying to do the same thing against Denman!
The saturation of level weight races for the top horse will now never allow a horse to even begin to reach Arkle and Flyingbolt’s lofty Timeform ratings – Sprinter Sacre (192), Mill House and Kauto Star (both on 191) have all managed to get into 190s and I would personally have had Dessie on in that club too, probably at 190 instead of the 187 he currently sits on.