In the spring Australia crowned a new champion in So You Think who was hailed as the best horse to grace the turf for many years.
The Irish thought so too and quickly paid a handsome price to whisk him off shore.
No sooner had he run his last race in Australia when a gallant third in the Melbourne Cup, the dual Cox Plate winner’s position at the top was under threat from a sprinter with an engine to burn.
Black Caviar went into the Patinack Farm Classic unbeaten but without a Group One to her name.
She fixed that quickly and went on to claim another five at the top level in the autumn and maintain her winning record.
Black Caviar sat at the top of the international ratings while So You Think started to make an impression in Europe and justify his lofty price tag.
It seems a foregone conclusion the mare will trump him as Australia’s Horse of the Year but racegoers can count themselves lucky to have seen both in their prime.
So You Think’s trainer Bart Cummings needs little introduction and is firmly established as national treasure.
Although the season was a good one results wise, the 83-year-old’s health made headlines with the trainer laid low on more than one occasion with respiratory ailments.
He has bounced back each time and is looking forward to unearthing another champion.
Black Caviar’s trainer Peter Moody has risen through the ranks to be the dominant force in Melbourne, leaving Hall Of Fame trainers David Hayes and Lee Freedman in his wake.
Although he left outback Queensland many years ago to pursue his dream of training horses in the big smoke Moody retains his basic bush values as Cummings always remembers where he came from.
Cummings is synonymous with the Melbourne Cup but it was the French who managed to raid Australia’s most famous race.
Alain de Royer Dupre was an unfamiliar name to most before the first Tuesday in November but he was well known to Melbourne businessman Gerry Ryan who bought stayer Americain with the purpose of winning the Cup.
With Gerald Mosse aboard, Americain gave a sparkling display of speed and stamina to give France the trophy, with an Australian flavour.
The internationalisation of racing has been keenly felt with Sheikh Mohammed’s mammoth investment in Australian racing and breeding.
Under the sheikh’s Darley banner, trainer Peter Snowden pulled off a remarkable feat, claiming all five Group One races for two-year-olds with colts Sepoy, Helmet and Benfica.
Blue Diamond-Golden Slipper winner Sepoy will be lost to Australian racing, probably next year, but Snowden takes it as a compliment when the sheikh’s Godolphin operation comes calling.
Almost as important for Darley was Lonhro’s coronation as the country’s leading sire.
A champion on the track, Lonhro was among the stock Sheikh Mohammed acquired when he bought Bob Ingham’s thoroughbred empire.
Snowden relinquished his Sydney trainer’s premiership to Chris Waller, a 37-year-old former New Zealander who still marvels at being able to ply his trade at the top level.
Waller’s appetite was whetted last year when he gave Snowden a run for his money and he set himself standards throughout the season that bore fruit.
Gai Waterhouse came third in the premiership battle but realised one of her lifetime dreams when Descarado won the Caulfield Cup.
She also prepared More Joyous whose claims as the country’s top mare were thwarted only by Black Caviar.
There were many more stellar achievements in 2010-2011 but none stand taller than Black Caviar and So You Think.
AAP TURF
