Last Updated: 2:52PM BST 26 May 2009
Duke was measured at just under 6ft 8ins tall - or 20.1 hands from the ground to the horse's withers. Photo: IMAGES INTERNATIONAL
Owners say a diet of herbal tea and Granny Smith apples has triggered the two inch growth in just one year.
In May 2008 Duke, a the six-year-old shire horse, measured 6ft 6ins - or 19.3 hands tall.
At the time it made him smaller than Radar, a Canadian shire horse living in Texas.
But the sudden spurt means Duke is now leading the way after he was measured at just under 6ft 8ins tall - or 20.1 hands from the ground to the horse's withers - the highest part of the back at the base of a horse's neck.
He is now one of three horses fighting for the accolade of the tallest horse in the world.
Sara Ross, the owner of two-ton Duke said she was amazed at the horse's continued growth.
"Duke has been unwell for the past six weeks or so, but is well on the road to recovery with the help of buckets of herbal tea and apples," said Mrs Ross.
"We couldn't believe it when we measured him and found he's grown so much in the past year."
Radar's last measured height stood at 20.1 hands and his closest other rival, an Australian shire called Noddy was recently measured at just under 20.1 hands.
Duke, who is scared of mice, gets through more than 20 gallons of water, five gallons of herbal tea and nearly 20lbs of grass, hay and grain a day.
Mrs Ross, who runs the Horse Refuge near Tenterden, Kent, said: "He is the biggest horse I've ever seen and he just keeps growing.
"He's an absolute giant and looks like he's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the world now."
Duke's girth has been measured at 8ft 6ins, his face if three feet long and his thighs are 56 inches at their thickest point.
The average height of a shire horse is 17.2 hands. The British record of 19.2 hands was held by a shire called Cracker until his death last year.
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