Using Timeform ratings David Ord looks at the best performances of the domestic Flat season - division by division.
So the curtain has come down on another UK Turf season. Oisin Murphy retained his jockeys' title after a duel with William Buick which lit up the early autumn evenings.
Charlie Appleby is all-set to land the trainers' gong although that race rolls on until the end of the calendar year. I'm sure there's a reason why the two aren't aligned - but can't think of one right now.
Then there's the horses. We had a good Derby winner in Adayar - who went on to beat his elders in the King George. He was part of a middle-distance squad for Appleby that resembled the Ballydoyle battalions of recent times. The times-they-are-a-changing as Bob Dylan warbled.
We said goodbye to Battaash after his explosive speed diminished to a point where connections cried 'no mas'.
Stradivarius lost his staying crown in a division where two horses were to prove his master - but he'll be back for more in 2022. Connections clearly pinning their hopes on a quick ground Royal Ascot to have another shot at four Gold Cups.
For once he doesn't appear in our list of top performances by division on Timeform performance ratings. Neither does Adayar, dominant Juddmonte International winner Mishriff or top older miler Palace Pier.
No, this year the gongs go to...
Stayer
Subjectivist (130) - Gold Cup, Royal Ascot
A real case of what might have been. Mark Johnston's charge was a thriving stayer when he headed to Ascot in June and in the words of the Timeform report of the Gold Cup "he's right up there with the best modern stayers judged on this."
He was completely dominant, going for home shortly after the turn for home and maintaining a relentless gallop all the way to the line. By then he was five lengths clear of Princess Zoe and seven of a dethroned Stradivarius. The staying division was at his hooves only for a tendon injury to end his season - and threaten his career.
There are cautiously optimistic noises emerging from connections that he may be back in 2022. If he is - and in the same form - Stradivarius might need more than fast ground to claim a slice of midsummer history.
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Middle-distance
St Mark's Basilica (132) - Coral-Eclipse, Sandown
The first clash of the generations produced the performance of the season as St Mark's Basilica proved too hot for his elders to handle at Sandown.
He rolled into Esher off the back of wins in the French 2000 Guineas and Derby and just in case any domestic fans had failed to take note of those displays, turned on the style to beat Addeybb and Mishriff by three-and-a-half lengths and a neck respectively.
He promised to go even higher too but was to run only once more, winning a tactical, dramatic and ultimately unforgettable Irish Champion Stakes.
But it was in the Eclipse that he posted his peak performance - and none of the class of 2021 could go higher.
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Baaeed (130), QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot
Champions Day crowned a champion - and what a story he was.
In a year in which their founder Hamdan Al Maktoum sadly passed away, Shadwell swelled the autumn sales catalogues with horses in training, mares and yearlings as work took place to scale down the operation.
But thankfully the blue and white silks will still be seen on racecourses in 2022 - and they have a colt here to join the stallion ranks at the Nunnery Stud at the end of the campaign.
He only made his racecourse debut at Leicester in June, looking a colt of some potential in overcoming greenness to make a winning start. But once he got rolling...
A Newmarket novice win excited the timing experts, a Listed win back there and a Group Three romp at Goodwood the rest of us. He took the step up to Group One company in his stride in the Moulin - and his rating to the magical 130 mark in the QEII.
He travelled sweetly, produced a decisive turn of foot to sweep past Palace Pier and maintained his run to the line to fend off that rival's renewed effort. The exciting thing is there might be even more to come next year.
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Starman/Suesa (125)
Starman - Darley July Cup, Newmarket
Suesa - Qatar King George Stakes, Goodwood
How fitting that a division in which they all seemed capable of beating each other on any given day should have joint-winners.
Starman was first to throw his hat in the ring with a dominant display in the July Cup, thundering home to beat Dragon Symbol by a length-and-three-quarters. But he was unable to build on it - suffering defeats on different ground in the Prix Maurice de Gheest and Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock.
As Timeform said of him in their report of the agonising defeat to Emaraaty Ana at Newton-Le-Willows: "It remains the case that he's the most talented sprinter on these shores, but the circumstances under which he's likely to show it are looking narrower."
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsThe 2021 Qatar King George Stakes will be best remembered as the swansong for Battaash but it still also featured the five-furlong performance of the season.
Visually it was stunning as Suesa quickened away from the field in a matter of strides to slam Dragon Symbol - he's proved useful for this feature - by a widening three lengths. But alarm bells were ringing.
"She looked a top-notch sprinter in beating her rivals so comprehensively, for all that the run of the race, going too fast into a headwind, may have shown her to maximum advantage. She's in the Nunthorpe and it would certainly be good to see her confirm this form there," Timeform mused.
And she couldn't - nor in the Prix de l'Abbaye back on home shores in the autumn. Perhaps Goodwood was the day was the day the cards fell right for Suesa but what a sight she was.
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsTwo-year-old
Native Trail (122p) - National Stakes, Curragh
For a while it looked we might be struggling to find a season-defining two-year-old performance. Then Native Trail headed to Ireland for the National Stakes.
He was unbeaten in two races before that afternoon, including a battling victory in the Superlative Stakes. But at the Curragh he displayed a brilliance that had been hitherto missing.
It was the way he ran clear of Chesham winner Point Lonsdale in the final furlong to win by three-and-a-half lengths that excited - and earned him the belt for this division. He didn't need to be as good to win the Dewhurst on his only subsequent start but heads into the winter as the best British-trained Classic prospect for next spring.
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The highest-rated winner of 2021:
