WATCH: How Pierata was crowned Summer king

Pierata was no stranger to Queenslanders when he arrived for the Winning Rupert Plate at Doomben on 2 December 2017. 

However, they were yet to witness just what the Pierro colt was fully capable of, following two respectable runs in the winter's two-year-old features. 

By Magic Millions Day, the Greg Hickman-trained colt was crowned King of the 2017/18 Queensland Summer Racing Carnival, after collecting the biggest pay-day ($1.7 million) in Queensland racing history. 

A $500,000 bonus was offered by UBET (now TAB) for any three-year-old that could win three out of five Summer Crown legs throughout the carnival, starting with the Winning Rupert. 

Pierata started a $3 equal-favourite alongside Bring It Home Pop, who led the field up to the 200m mark... 

With the first leg of the $500,000 Summer Crowns Series under his belt, Pierata returned to Doomben a fortnight later for the Gold Edition Plate.

There he was to face the speedy, Toby Edmonds-trained Whypeeo. 

On a track that, at the time, favoured runners on-speed, Whypeeo was always going to be hard to catch. However, Pierata didn't shirk the task. 

Now looking for further, Pierata returned on 'Road To Magic Millions' day for the Vo Rogue Plate and was sent out a $3.20 favourite. 

Jockey Corey Brown used the long back-straight at Doomben to overcome the wide darw (Barrier 11) and find a spot mid-field. 

As the field turned for home there was only one horse you wanted to be on... 

Pierata was now on-course to collect the $500,000 bonus on Magic Millions Day at the Gold Coast. 

But some of his mates from Sydney weren't going to make life easy for him. 

The Kris Lees-trained Sasso Corbaro and Bjorn Baker's Goodfella were both highlighted as potential party spoilers. 

It didn't worry jockey Corey Brown, who gave the colt a peach to secure a 2.5L victory eased-down. 

The celebrations post-race were nothing short of wild. 

Pierata returned for the 2018 Autumn Racing Carnival in Sydney and was locked in some epic battles with Godolphin's boom horse, Kementari. 

He stepped up again in the Spring when winning the Listed Sydney Stakes in devastating fashion, before finishing third behind Stradbroke winner Santa Ana Lane in the G1 VRC Sprint.