Snow in Dubai: Thunder Snow, ridden by Christophe Soumillon and trained by Saeed Bin Surour, wins the Dubai World at Meydan in March. The four-year-old bay colt accelerated on the final turn to come home five-and-three-quarter lengths ahead.
Elite band: Real Madrid’s Croatian midfielder Luka Modric ended the stranglehold of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or in December.
Flaming Flemington: Cross Counter, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, produced a strong late run to win the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in September.
High and low: Australia thrashed England to win the fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney to clinch the series 4-0 in January. But later in the year, three Aussies were caught with ball-tampering and earned bans.
In familiar territory: Two-time champions Chennai Super Kings, who were banned for two years in a betting scandal, returned to clinch their third Indian Premier League crown. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Lions defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final of IPL XI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in May.
Batman returns: India’s captain and top batsman Virat Kohli underlined his supremacy during the year by plundering runs at will against all rivals and in various conditions and in different formats.
That winning feeling: Tiger Woods seals first win in five years with victory at season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta. The two-shot in September was his 80th in his PGA Tour career.