Run The Numbers – The 2025/26 Group 1 season in review
As Chris Waller and James McDonald scaled new Group 1 heights, Snitzel produced a season of Group 1 dominance not seen in 20 years. Run The Numbers looks back over the elite-racing season.
Chris Waller and James McDonald will rightly garner the headlines in the Group 1 season reviews, with both ex-pat Kiwis breaking the previous records for the most elite wins in an Australian season, but the performance of the progeny of the late Snitzel is arguably equal to that pair in significance.
Snitzel will claim his fifth Australian Sires’ Championship this season, the first since his sudden death last June, in what has been his most dominant campaign in terms of top-flight winners.
While he won’t break his seasonal prizemoney record ($25.4m this season compared to $29.2 million in 2017/18), or his overall number of seasonal Australian stakes winners (17 this season, as compared to his joint best of 26 in 2016/17 and 2017/18), he has set a new career high when it comes to individual Group 1 winners.
He had six in all: Fireball, Campione D’Italia, Lazzura, Marhoona, Transatlantic and Baraqiel, eclipsing his previous best of four in what was the most successful Group 1 season in terms of individual winners by the one sire since Redoute’s Choice in 2005/06.
Danehill, Snitzel’s grandsire, also had a career Australian seasonal-best of six, in 1998/99, the same season Zabeel had the record haul of seven.
While the Arrowfield legend dominated, there were 49 other stallions with Australian Group 1 winners this season. Among those with multiple representatives were Street Boss, who had four Group 1 winners, all from his three-year-old crop, while Pride Of Dubai, Bivouac, The Autumn Sun and I Am Invincible each had two.
There were two Group 1 races this Australian season won by Snitzel’s progeny, which were trained by Waller and ridden by McDonald. This occurred when Campione D’Italia claimed the Inglis Sires’ and when Lazzura won the Coolmore Classic.
| Sire | G1 winners |
| Snitzel | 6 |
| Street Boss | 5 |
| The Autumn Sun | 5 |
| Bivouac | 3 |
| Frankel | 3 |
| Fastnet Rock | 3 |
Waller took his total Australian Group 1 wins to 202, with a record 22 for the season, three better than his previous mark of 19. Those 22 wins came from 14 individual horses, with Autumn Glow and Via Sistina winning three apiece and Aeliana, Autumn Boy, Beiwacht and Joliestar all winning two.
That total of 14 individual Group 1 winners in a season is also a clear record for Waller, whose previous best total was 11 in 2022/23.
While the season saw Waller dominate, there were still 29 other trainers who won Group 1 races, the same number as in 2024/25.
Ciaron Maher was second on eight, while Anthony and Sam Freedman, Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman and Joe Pride had four apiece.
| Trainer | G1 wins |
| Chris Waller | 22 |
| Ciaron Maher | 8 |
| Anthony & Sam Freedman | 4 |
| Joe Pride | 4 |
| Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman | 4 |
| Bjorn Baker | 3 |
| Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | 3 |
| Mick Price & Michael Kent Jnr | 3 |
The number of Group 1-winning jockeys was also the same as last season, with 33, a list easily topped by McDonald, whose 17, all for Waller, bettered Malcolm Johnston’s mark of 16 set in 1979/80.
McDonald rode 12 different horses to those victories, again a record, and while he set a new mark for most Group 1 winners by an Australasian jockey, he is still 16 short of Damien Oliver’s Australian total of 125.
Craig Williams was the second most successful this season with eight Group 1 wins, while Mark Zahra had four, to be placed third on that list.
| Jockey | G1 wins |
| James McDonald | 17 |
| Craig Williams | 8 |
| Mark Zahra | 4 |
| Adam Hyeronimus | 3 |
| Blake Shinn | 3 |
| Chad Schofield | 3 |
| Damian Lane | 3 |
| Jamie Melham | 3 |
| Zac Lloyd | 3 |
Going back to the horses themselves, there were 59 individual Group 1 winners this season, which is two more than last season, five more than in 2023/24, but two fewer than the 61 that saluted at the top level in 2022/23.
Sir Delius, Autumn Glow and Via Sistina all won three Group 1 races apiece.
Stepping back to broodmare sires, Street Cry has been the most successful in that regard, with five individual Group 1 winners from his daughters – Beiwacht, Idle Flyer, Tom Kitten, Attica and Treasurethe Moment,
Fellow Darley champion Exceed And Excel has had three Australian Group 1 winners as a broodmare sire, Tentyris, Tropicus and Tempted, while Redoute’s Choice mares also produced three elite winners, Spicy Martini, Ohope Wins and Green Spaces.
All in all, there are 47 different broodmare sires represented among the list of Australian Group 1 winners this season.
Of the 59 Group 1 winners, 26 were sold as yearlings in Australia or New Zealand. The average yearling price of those 26 horses was $389,800.
There were three who sold for seven figures or more, Autumn Glow, Charm Stone and Caballus, who would be resold as a tried horse before his Newmarket Handicap success.
The cheapest yearling was Spicy Martini at $8000. Twelve of the Group 1 winners could have been sourced as yearlings for $150,000 or less.
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