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While Australia may hold a reputation for its two-year-old racing, the most recent figures point to an ongoing slump in participation, which is having a knock-on impact across breeding and bloodstock. Run The Numbers investigates.

Two-year-old racing
Marhoona (left) claims the 2025 Golden Slipper as the latest figures reveal there will be fewer Australian two-year-old winners in 2024/25 than any other season since the turn of the century. (Photo: The Image is Everything - Bronwen Healy Photography)

Two-year-old racing in Australia is in a dramatic decline, with latest figures suggesting there will be fewer two-year-old winners in 2024/25 than there have been in any racing season this century.

In 2023/24, there were 2335 two-year-old starters in Australia, the lowest in at least 40 years, and a significant drop of 17.5 per cent from the 2840 two-year-old starters in 2019/20.

That represented just 8 per cent of the active racing population, another historical low, down from an average of close to 11.4 per cent over the past 35 years.

What that shows is that it is not just the slumping foal crop that is impacting the number of two-year-old starters, but the desire of trainers and owners to get their horses up for a two-year-old season. 

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