Horse Racing

Australian Horse Racing

Horse racing in Australia first began when the First Fleet docked on Australian soil on January 26th, 1788, and brought with it one stallion, one colt and two fillies from Cape Town, South Africa. Since that day, Australian Horse Racing has prospered into one of the most established and widely respected racing industries in the world.

The Australian horse racing calendar consists of 19,376 horse races that are held across 2,694 race meetings each year. Of these races, 19,281 are comprised of flat racing, while only 95 are classified as jump races. The country has a staggering 194,736 race starters, made up of 31,776 individual runners, competing on Australia’s 367 racecourses each year.

Australia’s most coveted race is the annual Melbourne Cup, which takes place on the first Tuesday of November each year and is worth an incredible $6 million. Every year this historic event, which began in 1861, attracts crowds in excess of 100,000 people. 2003’s Melbourne Cup holds the record for the highest number of attendees, with 122,736 people gathering to watch Makybe Diva win her first of three consecutive Melbourne Cup titles.

The Melbourne Cup attracts an annual viewership of nearly 2.6 million people, not including those who watch the race at pubs, schools and offices, and truly is the ‘race that stops a nation’. Every year, each person on average in Australia places $8.50 worth of bets on the race that incites interest from the entire country.

Horse racing in Australia offers some of the most lucrative prize money in the world, with almost $422 million paid out annually to money winning horses. This figure is the third highest in the globe, behind only Japan ($1.36 billion) and the United States of America ($1.42 billion). Throughout the year Australians turn over more than $14.3 billion in wagering, equalling an average of $637 per person. $10 billion of this money is punted on the TAB, while in excess of $4.3 billion is spent on the track or with online bookmakers. 46.9% of all bets placed are win tickets, while the second most common ticket type is trifecta bets, which account for 16.1% of all wagers made.

The horse racing industry generates more than $6.2 billion in revenue for the Australian economy each year and provides jobs for 250,000 people, demonstrating the reach of racing industry on our culture. Racing culture is so prevalent in our day to day life that approximately 1 in every 89 Australians are working in the industry.

Horse Racing Calendar 2011-2012

Recent Horse Racing News

• Moody pleased with Manighar heading to Doomben Cup
• Buffering’s prospects improving for Doomben 10,000
• Freedman hoping for clear skies for mawingo in Doomben cup
• Bosson to return to Queensland to ride Shez Sinsational
• Frankel To Make Comeback From Injury At Newbury
• Buffering No Doomben 10,000 Certainty
• Third Doomben Cup Tough Ask for Scenic Shot
• Champion Jumper Out For The Year
• O’Shea to weigh up Stradbroke start for Sea Siren
• Purton heading towards best Hong Kong season
• Lights of heaven gaining ground on Manighar in Doomben cup
• Beaded to head straight to Tattersall’s Tiara
• Michelle Payne escapes life threatening injuries in race fall
• Moody will have black caviar at her top for england
• Red Typhoon heading to queensland for the oaks