HERE’S how leading turf scribes from the two biggest newspapers in the country - the MELBOURNE HERALD SUN and SYDNEY DAILY TELEGRAPH looked back at the highs and lows of the racing year 2010.
Interestingly, even the Sydney Telegraph acknowledged the huge success of Victorian racing from Black Caviar to Peter Moody and Luke Nolen as well as declaring Caulfield Guineas day the best of the year.
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE VICTORIANS
SO MANY questions, so many issues, so much at stake, but so few answers. That's racing's lot as it ventures into 2011.
ADRIAN DUNN reports in the MELBOURNE HERALD SUN that all the queries are not confined to who will assume the throne vacated so swiftly, so unexpectedly and in many ways so disappointingly by So You Think.
First, we'll deal with the racetrack action.
With So You Think now in Ireland as he prepares for his European debut with trainer Aidan O'Brien, some time from May onwards there's a vacancy to be filled.
It would seem a massive void, given the dominance of Bart Cummings' superstar during the spring. A second Cox Plate at start No.10 is extraordinary.
But racing is unique in its ability to uncover nuggets of gold.
No sooner than So You Think was swept stealthily away from Bart Cummings' stables than Black Caviar grabbed the baton with a scintillating explosion of speed in the Patinack Farm Classic.
Black Caviar is not an overnight revelation, but the manner in which she so effortlessly destroyed her rivals, in stretching her unbeaten winning record to eight, was breathtaking.
Make no mistake, Black Caviar is the headline act of the Festival Of Racing and beyond.
She's on the cusp of greatness as she heads towards the Lightning Stakes.
Victory in the Lightning would see Black Caviar match the speed of Gran Flaneur, the 1880 Melbourne Cup winner, Pago Pago, Rancher and Eye Liner, who all achieved nine successive wins.
Lofty company indeed.
Black Caviar will create her own niche if Peter Moody decides to pursue the Newmarket Handicap, as Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter has also flagged the four-year-old will be asked to lump a weight-setting record for a mare.
Besides having the best sprinter in the land, Moody also looks to have the best bunch of three-year-olds, headlined by the under-rated Anacheeva, who could do no more than win all three starts in the spring, culminating in the Caulfield Guineas.
Add Curtana, Servant and Willow Creek to name but three and Moody is as well placed as any in that department.
The burly ex-Queenslander also boasts Horse Of The Year Typhoon Tracy, who shapes as the one to beat in all the early Festival Of Racing weight-for-age races up to and including 1600m.
Moody is also well placed in the pursuit of the Blue Diamond - Golden Archer and One Last Dance are the standouts of his raced stock - and the Golden Slipper.
What is not as clear cut is who will step up to challenge the usual suspects, the evergreen Zipping, Whobegotyou and Shocking, in the middle distance and staying races.
Maybe, just maybe, it could be one of the scores of imports that Lloyd Williams invested in so heavily in the lead-up to the 150th Melbourne Cup.
Perhaps At First Sight or I'm Imposing, or maybe emerging Linton? Or will 2007 Melbourne Cup winner, Efficient, make one last stand?
Moudre, the bush champ, is a work in progress, but there's plenty of upside about him.
John Hawkes' budding star, Maluckyday, shapes as the pick of the stayers.
What this four-year-old son of Zabeel accomplished in his Melbourne spring cameo appearance served notice he's going to be a powerful force in next year's Cups.
There are other questions. Will Lee Freedman and David Hayes, the turf goliaths of the 1990s and most of the 2000s, re-emerge?
Not as a threat to Moody in terms of premierships - those days seem light years away - but with a headline horse once synonymous with their stables.
It would appear well hidden at this stage, but a precocious juvenile can turn around anyone's fortunes. The next four months will be telling.
Is there a challenger to jockey Luke Nolen? Not while Moody's production line of winners continues at breakneck pace.
It may even translate into a "Scobie" Breasley Medal.
Will Danny Nikolic continue riding in Melbourne when his suspension ends late next month?
More importantly, will he hold his tongue, especially within earshot of chief steward Terry Bailey and his panel?
If not, his brilliant career will be all but finished.
Jumps racing, having survived the animal activists, Labor Party and Racing Victoria push to purge it, has a renewed lease of life now a Coalition Government is in power.
New Racing Minister Dr Denis Napthine has pledged to inject $2 million into prizemoney and supports an international jumps series.
Racing's TV war, now into its umpteenth episode, will roll on like Days In Our Lives and inevitably deliver the same old storyline.
As gargantuan as racing is - the third biggest industry in the country - the truth is that it doesn't need four TV stations.
Much like the debate over why there can't be a national tote - how does it make sense in the 21st century? - there doesn't appear to be an answer as to why racing can't present a united front, not only on the question of TV.
Racing, as political a beast as there is among sports, remains anxious on several fronts.
Most noticeably, who will win the new wagering licence and what funding model - gross revenue or turnover - will be adopted for the giant that is the corporate bookie?
The wagering licence - Tabcorp is an unbackable favourite to retain the licence it's held forever - has an added, more important twist. And that is, will the Coalition Government deliver on the outgoing Labor Government's pledge the industry will be no worse off? And what exactly does'"no worse off" translate to in cold, hard financial terms?
All members of the racing fraternity are waiting for that to be enunciated in plain language, free of spin.
As for the best funding model for the corporate bookie, well, that's driven a wedge between participants.
While an independent analysis is to be conducted, it would seem the findings will not satisfy all sections of the industry.
If there's one given among the many imponderables, it's odds on that the industry is destined for a volatile year.
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE NEW SOUTH WELSHMEN
THE racing year often seemed shrouded in dark clouds of controversy, anger and tragedy but on the racetrack, it was illuminated by some of the sport's brightest stars.
None shone brighter than Bart Cummings and So You Think. The trainer and his thoroughbred transcended the sport and it seemed a whole nation was riding with them on the first Tuesday in November.
So You Think's only defeat for the year was the Melbourne Cup but Cummings' champion reminded us what makes horse racing such an intoxicating sport with some scintillating big-race wins during the spring carnival.
Off the track, there were some momentous happenings that will change the sport forever. Talk of race club mergers, the ongoing court challenges by corporate bookmakers to the NSW race fields legislation, jockeys betting on races and a new-look Sydney autumn carnival. The DAILY TELEGRAPH Racing Editor RAY THOMAS reviews the best - and worst - of the 2010 racing year that was.
The horse
SO YOU Think - what a champion! He had missed nine months of racing before resuming back in August with an impressive win in the Memsie Stakes. He was unstoppable at weight-for-age for the rest of the spring, reeling off four successive Group One wins in the Underwood Stakes, Yalumba Stakes, a second Cox Plate and Mackinnon Stakes. But perhaps his best effort was his brave third in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) when burdened with 56kg and racing for the first time at a distance beyond 2040m.
Honorable mentions to unbeaten Black Caviar, warhorse Zipping, brilliant More Joyous and French stayer Americain. Mustard began his race career in 2000 yet a decade later, he is still racing and winning as a 13-year-old - a remarkable feat of longevity.
The race
THE most outstanding individual performance of the year did not belong to So You Think - it was Black Caviar and her unbelievable four-length win in the Patinack Farm Classic. It is difficult to recall a more thoroughly dominant sprinting effort against absolutely top-class opposition in the modern era than what this wonder mare produced on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Other memorable races included Hot Danish who finally broke her Group One hoodoo in the All Aged Stakes, Crystal Lily's Golden Slipper win, Rangirangdoo's tough Doncaster Mile triumph and Faint Perfume's effort to run down Valdemoro in the Vinery Stud Stakes.
The race day
THIS is usually reserved for Golden Slipper Day or Victoria Derby Day, but I felt the Caulfield Guineas meeting during the spring was simply the best race day of the year. There was a smorgasbord of equine talent on show that day at Caulfield in October beginning with Black Caviar's exciting win in the Schillaci Stakes. So You Think was then at his arrogant best in winning the Yalumba Stakes before More Joyous set a weight-carrying record for a mare when she shouldered 58kg to an outstanding fast-finishing win in the Toroak Handicap.
Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens was another fantastic day, while for sheer drama, Flemington on Derby Day was unforgettable again for the weather as much as the on-track action. Similarly, the Newmarket Handicap will be remembered more for that freak storm which hit Flemington during the actual race rather than Wanted's win.
The trainer
BART Cummings was in the news all year but his health problems didn't prevent racing's living legend from turning back the clock and being the nation's dominant Group One trainer. He had major race wins with Rock Classic (Australian Guineas), Faint Perfume (Vinery Stud Stakes) and Dariana (Queensland Derby) during the second half of last season before his champion So You Think ran amok. All that eluded the trainer was a 13th Melbourne Cup triumph but perhaps he will achieve that aim in 2011.
Peter Moody deserves recognition for his effort to end the Freedman and Hayes dominance of Melbourne racing with his first premiership title and six Group One wins during the year. Peter Snowden managed a similar feat in Sydney, ending the Waterhouse-Hawkes era after 17 years of premiership successes.
The jockey
WHEN was the last time a trainer went to the Supreme Court trying to get their jockey of choice to ride in a feature race?
Nash Rawiller found himself in that extraordinary situation when Gai Waterhouse took to the courts to try to get her stable jockey back on Theseo in the Doncaster Mile. The court ruled Rawiller had a prior obligation to Rangirangdoo. As fate would have it, Rawiller coaxed the best out of Rangirangdoo to score a narrow Doncaster win from Road To Rock. In tight finishes, Rawiller is very difficult to beat as he proved so often during the year, particularly his Group One wins on Theseo (Chipping Norton Stakes), Zabrasive (Rosehill Guineas) and Black Piranha (Stradbroke Handicap). He capped his year with a Sydney premiership title.
Luke Nolen continued his emergence with a Melbourne jockeys premiership and five Group One wins, Craig Williams also won five majors plus the prestigious Tenno Show in Japan on Jaguar Mail, while Corey Brown and Hugh Bowman repeatedly demonstrated why they are ranked among the nation's top three riders. Chris Munce's comeback is complete with his Caulfield Cup win on the Gai Waterhouse-trained Descarado giving him a rare Grand Slam of major race wins. Munce joins Neville Sellwood, Roy Higgins, Pat Hyland, Mick Dittman, Jim Cassidy and Damien Oliver in winning the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper.
The triumph
WAS enough made of Gai Waterhouse's effort to prepare 100 Group One winners after just 18 years as a licensed trainer?
This was truly an extraordinary achievement from racing's first lady as only three other trainers in Australian racing history have won at least 100 majors - her father Tommy Smith won a world record 282 Group One races, Bart Cummings is up to 264 and Lee Freedman has 124 big-race wins.
Waterhouse brought up the milestone when Herculian Prince staged a massive form reversal to win The Metropolitan at Randwick in October, giving the trainer her seventh win in the big race.
The controversy
THE So You Think sale - by about as far as the champion was beating his opponents. Just a day after the Melbourne Cup, Bart Cummings revealed that So You Think had been sold to race overseas, leaving the trainer and race fans angry and dismayed. After a spectacular race career of 12 starts, it is likely the four-year-old will never race here again. However, the initial disappointment of losing So You Think to Australian racing has been replaced by a sense of anticipation as the near-black entire prepares to take on the world in Europe next year.
The news
THE biggest racing story of the year had to be the Blake Shinn-Peter Robl betting scandal. Both jockeys were found by stewards to have placed numerous bets through a TAB telephone betting account. Each received a lengthy disqualification although they have appealed against the severity of their penalties.
The merger of the Australian Jockey Club and Sydney Turf Club will happen early next year, ushering in an exciting new era in Sydney racing.
The new merged club has $174 million in funding to help improve facilities at Royal Randwick and Rosehill Gardens, the race fields legislation case has ended up in the High Court with many in the NSW racing industry adamant the sport's future relies on the Federal Court ruling being validated, and night racing has moved to Friday evenings at Canterbury.
The tragedy
IT WAS a surreal moment - Corey Brown wearing the late Stathi Katsidis's riding britches on Shoot Out in the Cox Plate. Katsidis had died just five days before he was due to ride Shoot Out. The circumstances surrounding the 31-year-old's death are yet to be released but what is certain is that we lost an outstanding rider. There was no better big-race winning ride than Katsidis's effort on Shoot Out in the AJC Australian Derby.
STORIES SOURCE: MELBOURNE SUN HERALD & SYDNEY DAILY T ELEGRAPH – both NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS
