Just about the only contest Black Caviar didn’t win during 2011 was an online poll to choose Australia’s Sports Personality of the Year.
That honour went to Tour de France champion Cadel Evans but the fact a racehorse was even nominated was a tribute to her charisma.
And what a racehorse she is.
She began the year as the winner of all her eight starts but only one at Group One level.
At the end of the year she had doubled her winning record and added six more Group One titles to her name and earned recognition as the best sprinter in the world.
But she added so much more.
Thousands of people who had never been to a race meeting turned up to see her and were not disappointed.
She took racing from the sports pages to the front pages as her reputation grew.
Her trainer Peter Moody is a true Aussie bloke from outback Queensland who has risen through the ranks to become Melbourne’s premier trainer and can cope with most things.
But the hype around the mare was something new.
“It’s a pain in the arse,” Moody says.
“But I’m glad it’s my arse.”
Her jockey Luke Nolen is from country Victoria and got a job with Moody by accident when the trainer thought he was booking his brother Shaun for one of his horses.
He describes himself simply as the lucky man who gets to sit on Black Caviar’s back.
A planned trip to Western Australia failed to materialise when Moody decided she needed a break after defending her crown in the Patinack Classic.
For all that she makes it look easy, the effort told on Black Caviar and she was a little sore and sorry after the race.
One of the criticisms levelled at the Black Caviar camp was that she could not be considered the world’s best until she travelled overseas.
The Hong Kong International meeting was ruled out early because of the difficulties with quarantine on return to Australia.
But a race fit for a queen awaits at Royal Ascot in June and she will get the chance to prove her doubters wrong.
While Black Caviar was the biggest star in racing, it seems Australia’s biggest race may be slipping from our grasp.
For the second year in a row, a French stayer took out the Melbourne Cup with the field loaded with overseas entrants and imports.
The long tradition of the Australian stayer has been replaced by the breeding of the kind of speed that produced Black Caviar.
Dunaden followed the same path to the Melbourne Cup as Americain had 12 months earlier by winning the Geelong Cup.
Trained by the personable Mikel Delzangles, Dunaden had a slightly tougher job to win the big one than his predecessor, with a pixel deciding the photo-finish over English horse Red Cadeaux.
French jockey Christophe Lemaire took riding honours after Craig Williams was ruled out through suspension.
But Williams got his moment in the sun when he steered Dunaden to a memorable victory in the Hong Kong Vase six weeks later.
Two international Group One wins in two different countries indicates the French have got the formula right and Australian owners and trainers are rushing to buy European staying blood to reclaim our Cup.
In a year when Black Caviar hogged the limelight, a quiet achiever produced an unprecedented feat that was almost pushed into the background.
Sheikh Mohammed’s Australian trainer Peter Snowden reigned supreme in the major two-year-old races.
There are five Group One races for juveniles in Australia and Snowden made a clean sweep with Sepoy winning the big two, the Blue Diamond and the Golden Slipper, Helmet the AJC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes and Benfica the TJ Smith Classic.
Sepoy and Helmet were there again in the spring as early three-year-olds and again produced the goods.
In a sparkling display Sepoy took on all comers to win the Group One Manikato Stakes and backed up with wins in the Group Two Caulfield Sprint and Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes.
Helmet took a couple of starts to hit his straps but came into his own with victory in the Group One Caulfield Guineas.
Sadly the pair will be lost to Australia next year with their performances earning them a place in Sheikh Mohammed’s northern hemisphere Godolphin operation.
In a tribute to Snowden’s horsemanship, they won’t be handed over immediately with the trainer in charge when they race at the World Cup meeting in Dubai in March.
While Australian racegoers will rue their loss, Snowden is proud he has nurtured two star colts worthy of participating on the world stage.
And the worlds may collide at Royal Ascot in June with a clash between Sepoy and Black Caviar.
AAP TURF
