Over 670 horses around Australia passed $500,000 in career earnings in the last racing season as the number of races contested in Australia for $1 million or more jumped to 105.
They were two of the many facts underpinning this year’s release of the Aushorse Investor’s Guide, an annual report which is designed to highlight the impacts and opportunities of thoroughbred racing and breeding in Australia.
As Australia crashed through $1 billion in prize money for the first time in 2023/24, one in 43 horses earned more than $500,000 and one in every 132 earned more than $1 million.
In a sign of how much prize money has exploded in Australia over the past 40 years, when Kingston Town became the first horse to eclipse that million-dollar barrier in 1981, it was considered a national newsworthy event.
The Guide points out that Australian prize money has increased by 36 per cent over the past five years, and 92 per cent over the past decade. The corresponding figures in the world’s biggest racing nation, the United States, are 12 per cent and 16 per cent.
Aushorse Investors Guide 2025
A compelling case to get involved in Australian racing and breeding
The number of million-dollar races in Australia, 105, is more than the United States (69) and Europe/UK (29) combined.
The average prize money for an Australian race now stands at $53,797.
The Investor’s Guide also pointed out that for the fourth year running Australia hosted more of the world’s top 100 Group 1 races (24) than any other country.
“The industry in Australia is in a strong position with the firm foundations of a great funding model and deep support from across society, which is borne out in the number of people here who want to be involved in ownership,” Aushorse chief executive Tom Reilly said.
Bren O’Brien
Australia has unmatched breadth of thoroughbred ownership, with one in 191 Australians owning a share in a horse, or over 140,000 people. That compares to one in 1108 in Ireland, one in 10,653 in France and nearly 1 in 5000 in the UK.
The Guide is designed to provide potential investors in the Australian thoroughbred industry, either local or overseas, the statistical foundation to back up their impressions.
“I get a lot of people asking me about the Guide and already in the past month there have been prominent investors from Europe and America asking for the stats as they look at their investment plans for 2025,” Reilly said.
“The Guide is also very popular with trainers and syndicators here and is a great tool for them when engaging their clients.”
In the context of challenging macro-economic conditions, the Guide pointed out that the affordability of bloodstock is also significantly better in Australia than other major jurisdictions.
In the past three years the average cost of the top 50 colts at Australian yearling sales was US$793,560, compared to US$1,151,225 in the USA and US$1,006,681 in Europe.
For fillies, the average across the top 50 was US$684,603, compared to $853,525 in the US and $911,386 in Europe.
The was in which Australian horses are raised, spending a high percentage of their time in paddocks, is also highlighted.
The two major auction houses both believe the Investor’s Guide is an important tool for highlighting the best virtues of investing in Australia.
“As we’ve seen with the recent spring carnivals in Melbourne and Sydney, the spectacle of the racing here in Australia is simply incredible,” Inglis chief executive of bloodstock sales, Sebastian Hutch, said.
“The Investor’s Guide does a great job of showcasing that, but also making clear that Australia is unparalleled in terms of prizemoney, as well as bloodstock availability and affordability.”
Bren O’Brien
That assessment was backed up by Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch.
“The Investor’s Guide puts forward a compelling case as to why there is no better place to invest and race horses than Australia. It’s a great document to have released as we get closer to kicking off the sales season on the Gold Coast next month,” he said.
Aushorse is the marketing body of the Australian thoroughbred industry. A sister organisation to Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, it is funded through a levy on horses sold through public auction in Australia.
