Racing: Makybe Diva champion and favourite

Champion mare Makybe Diva is the big winner of the Horse of the Year awards, being named Australian Champion and also claiming the public vote as the most popular racehorse.

Predictably, the dual Melbourne Cup winner was also named the best stayer but it was her feats in the autumn that elevated her to superstar status when she beat the best at weight-for-age.

Trained by Lee Freedman after the now Hong Kong-based David Hall took her to her first Melbourne Cup, Makybe Diva became the first mare to complete back-to-back wins in Australia's most famous race.

Her record-breaking performance in the Australian Cup (2000m) added a new dimension to her repertoire and she dazzled Sydney fans when she travelled north to overwhelm local favourite Grand Armee in the BMW (2400m) a week later.

Makybe Diva polled 114 votes out of a possible 145 to receive the top award in Melbourne with Caulfield Cup winner Elvstroem next on 18.

Last season Makybe Diva raced 11 times for three wins, all at group one level, and amassed more than $5 million prizemoney.

Her jockey Glen Boss, who was the most successful group one rider in Australia last season with nine wins, has a special affinity for Makybe Diva.

"She is just something special this mare," Boss said.

"She can do things other horses can't do. I'm just so lucky to be able to ride her."

Makybe Diva is owned by millionaire South Australian tuna fisherman Tony Santic who bought her dam Tugela in England when she was in foal.

After Tugela's filly was born, Santic tried to sell the foal but when she failed to attract a buyer he brought them both back home.

The filly was named by taking the first two letters of the names of the five women who worked in his Port Lincoln office - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane and Vanessa and it's a name which has now become world famous.

A half-brother to Makybe Diva fetched an Australian record $2.5 million at this year's Easter Yearling sale.

Makybe Diva is being set specifically for the country's premier weight-for-age event this spring, the Cox Plate, after which Freedman will decide whether she makes a bid for a historic third Melbourne Cup.

The most closely contested category was that for the country's top 3-year-old with Newcastle speedster Fastnet Rock beating dual Derby winner Plastered by 10 votes.

The Paul Perry-trained Fastnet Rock, another Boss mount, was also named the country's best sprinter over Alinghi who was the overwhelming choice as the best 3-year-old filly.

Perry's Golden Slipper winner Stratum missed out on the 2-year-old award with the Gai Waterhouse-trained Fashions Afield a clear winner.

Fashions Afield was runner-up in the Golden Slipper, won the Sires' Produce Stakes and finished second to Carry On Cutie in the final race of the Sydney Triple Crown, the Champagne Stakes.

The Waterhouse-trained Grand Armee was named the champion middle-distance horse while Elvstroem's victory in the desert at the Dubai World Cup meeting in March gave him the honour as the best international performer.

Karasi was another to star on the world stage and his brilliant win in the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan was enough to secure the champion jumper award.

Waterhouse was Australia's leading group one trainer with 11 wins while the late Danehill's influence as a sire is still being felt with his progeny earning $11 million-plus during 2004-05 making him once again the champion sire.AAP