Australian Horse Racing

Welcome to AustralianHorseRacing.net

Here you will find comprehensive information on Horse Racing throughout Australia including information on racecourses throughout Australia with maps and references for the horse racing enthusiast.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing is an important spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horseraces is a popular pastime with about AUD$12.5 billion wagered annually with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board ( TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horse racing in Australia are flat racing, and also races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to the 330 racecourses throughout Australia in 2007-2008.

On an international scale Australia has more racecourses than any other nation. It is second to the US in the number of horses starting in races each year. Australia is third, after the US and Japan for the amount of prizemoney that is distributed annually

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.

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 30,000 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 the Melbourne Cup, the Victoria Derby and the VRC Oaks race meets. The Golden Slipper Stakes, Caulfield Cup and W S Cox Plate are also major attractions