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Horseracing in Australia

Encyclopedia : H : HO : HOR : Horseracing in Australia

Horse racing in Australia is administered by The Australian Racing Board, with each State’s Principal Racing Authority agreeing to abide by, and to enforce the Australian Rules of Racing.

Thoroughbred horse racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian Rules football and rugby league, with almost 2 million admissions to the 379 racecourses throughout Australia in 2002-2003. Besides being a spectator sport, horse racing is also an industry, which provides full or part time employment for almost 250,000 people, the equivalent of 77,000 jobs. About 300,000 people have a direct interest as owners, or members of syndicates in the 31,000 horses in training in Australia.

Public interest in thoroughbred racing, especially during the main Spring and Autumn racing carnivals, has been growing in recent years with over 100,000 attracted to the running of both the Melbourne Cup and VRC Oaks. The Caulfield Cup and W S Cox Plate are also major attractions.

Throughout its history, horse racing has become part of the Australian culture and has developed a rich and colourful language as well as providing some of Australia’s great sporting icons such as Phar Lap, Tulloch, Bernborough, Kingston Town and Makybe Diva.

Contents

Administration of Racing in Australasia

Australia

Racing in the Australian continent is governed by the Australian Racing Board. This body supersedes the power of the principal clubs, which were once the sovereign body of racing in every state until government reforms introduced separate governing bodies for the industry.

Victoria

Victoria is considered to be the home of racing in Australia, with international races like the Melbourne Cup. The governing body is Racing Victoria Limited. The principal club is the Victoria Racing Club, which races at Flemington; the two other metropolitan clubs are the Melbourne Racing Club, which races at Caulfield and Sandown, and the Moonee Valley Racing Club, home of the Weight for Age championship of Australasia, the Cox Plate.

New South Wales

Racing in New South Wales is governed by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Board. The principal clubs are the Australian Jockey Club, which races at Royal Randwick and Warwick Farm, the Sydney Turf Club, which races at Rosehill Gardens and Canterbury Park.

South Australia

Racing in South Australia is governed by Thoroughbred Racing S.A Limited. The principal club is the South Australian Jockey Club, which races at Morphettville, Cheltenham and Victoria Park.

Queensland

Racing in Queensland is governed by the Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Board and the principal clubs are the Queensland Turf Club, which races at Eagle Farm, and the Brisbane Turf Club, which races at Doomben.

Western Australia

Racing in Western Australia is governed by the Western Australian Turf Club, which holds racing at Belmont Park and Ascot Racecourse. Other popular courses with feature races in Western Australia are Bunbury, Pinjarra, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, and Northam.

The most popular race is the Perth Cup, held each New Year's Day at Ascot. There are three Group 1 races contended, being the Railway Stakes, the Fruit-and-Vege Stakes, and the WATC Derby.

Tasmania

Racing in Tasmania is governed by the Tasmanian Thoroughbred Racing Council and the principal club is the Tasmanian Turf Club. There are Tasmanian meetings every Sunday usually alternating between Elwick Racecourse near Hobart and Mowbray near Launceston.

The racing industry in Tasmania is currently being restructured and will eventually be jointly managed by the new Racing Services Tasmania and TOTE Tasmania.

Northern Territory

Racing in the Northern Territory is now governed by Thorougbred Racing NT (formerly the Darwin Turf Club, which races at Fannie Bay.)

Australian Capital Territory

Racing in the Australian Capital Territory is governed by the principal club, the Canberra Racing Club.

Betting

There are four main avenues for race betting in Australia. Licensed on-track bookmakers offer fixed-odds betting, mostly on wins and places. Off-track betting was traditionally controlled by the various state government through organisation called "Totalisator Agency Boards" (TAB), which offered mainly parimutuel betting - that is, the odds were not fixed but involved "the house" taking a fixed cut and distributing the remainder amongst people who made a winning bet. Many of these "TABs" have now been privatised, and many pubs now offer betting services linked to the privatised offshoots of the companies. In some parts of Australia there was a tradition of illegal off-course bookmaking, known as SP bookmaking historically involving significant turnover, though it is unclear whether this is still the case. Finally, there is Betfair, a person to person betting exchange, which has recently made inroads into the Australian market.

Australia was the source of one of the major developments in race wagering - the totalisator or tote - an analogue computer which allowed the automatic calculation of race odds given betting patterns.

Facts and Figures for season 2004-05

Racing Statistics

Group races

Breeding

Prizemoney and earnings

Wagering

The seasons winners

See also

 

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