Golden decision gives NSW Group 1 parity with Victoria, but stakes gap still exists

The elevation of the Golden Eagle has brought NSW level with Victoria for Group 1 races this season.

But despite 16 upgrades approved by the Asian Pattern Committee (APC), NSW still trails Victoria by 15 races on the overall black-type program. 

As things stand, the APC is expected to make further announcements in the coming months regarding the second half of the racing season. NSW and Victoria will each stage 31 Group 1 races in 2026/27.  

During the 2010/11 season, there was only one Group 1 difference between the two states in Victoria’s favour, but by 2015/16 that gap had increased to three.

By the time the pattern fell into stasis, in 2017/18, Victoria held a one-race lead and retained that when both The Everest and the All-Star Mile were upgraded in 2024/25.

However, the APC announcement last week that the Golden Eagle would be elevated from a non-black-type race straight to Group 1 status put the two major states on level terms.

Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian Group 1 races held in those two states has grown from 77.9 per cent to 80.5 per cent. All nine new Group 1 races since 2010/11 have been in either Victoria or New South Wales.  

However, Victoria remains the dominant state for overall black-type races, with 204 scheduled to be held in the state in the upcoming season. NSW’s seasonal figure has lifted by 9.2 per cent, an increase of 16 races to 189, but it still trails Victoria.

In 2010/11, NSW had 163 stakes races, 19 fewer than Victoria, while by 2015/16 that gap between the two had grown to 27 – 176 to 203. In the 2025/26 season, Victoria held a 31-race advantage.

The new changes, which see 16 of the 19 newly minted stakes races held in NSW, increase Victoria’s lead over NSW to 15 in Victoria’s favour.

What is interesting is that as it stands NSW will hold seven more Group 2 races than Victoria, but the southern state has three more Group 3 races scheduled and 19 more Listed/Restricted Listed races.

Combined, the two states hold 62.7 per cent of Australia’s black-type races. That has grown from 61.1 per cent in 2010/11, 62.4 per cent in 2015/16 and 62.6 per cent in 2020/21.

The percentage of stakes races held across Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia has fallen slightly in the past 15 years from 36 per cent to 34 per cent.