Monterosso, a dark-coated bay horse with a white sock on his right hind foot, was bred in England by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Darley Stud.
Monterosso contested his first turf race in April when he won the Cock of the North Handicap at Ripon by a neck[4] from the filly Eleanora Duse, a subsequent Group Two winner.
After finishing second to Green Moon in the London Gold Cup (Johnston felt he had been unlucky[5]) he was a comfortable winner of a handicap at Newmarket under top weight of 130 pounds.
Ridden by Frankie Dettori, he took the lead early in the straight and "quickened clear" to win by two and a quarter lengths from the subsequent St Leger winner Arctic Cosmos, with The Derby runner-up At First Sight in fourth place.
At the end of the 2010 season, Monterosso's ownership was transferred to the Maktoum family's Godolphin Racing operation and he was sent to Dubai to be trained by Mahmoud Al Zarooni.
Starting as a 40/1 outsider he tracked the leaders and stayed on well[11] in the closing stages to finish third, beaten half a length and a neck by the Japanese runners Victoire Pisa and Transcend.
[3] After the race the Godolphin spokesman Simon Crisford announced that Monterosso and Capponi would return to England for the rest of the European flat season, although a run in the Singapore Airlines International Cup was also being considered.