Run The Numbers

With four stakes winners, including a Group 1 victory, it was a bottle green blitz for Yulong across Australia on Saturday. Recent history suggests that with 29 Australian stakes wins in the past 13 months, it might be a scene we get well used to by the end of the racing season.

With the breeding season days away from starting, Run The Numbers ponders the question of whether the best time to breed to a stallion is actually his first season at stud.

With Via Sistina chasing history as the first eight-year-old mare in 80 years to win an Australian Group 1 race, Private Eye has already set the standard for that age group in the PB Lawrence Stakes. Run The Numbers looks at the recent Group 1 record of horses aged eight and older.

With the breeding season only weeks away and more than 20 stallions set to make their debuts at stud in Australia, this week’s Run The Numbers looks at what size book is best in a first season.

The change of training strategies at Godolphin has precipitated the greatest movement of horses between stables in Australia since 2019. This week’s Run The Numbers breaks down which trainers have been the winners.

As the 2024/25 racing season runs out the clock, it is time for Run The Numbers’ second annual Australian racing’s most improved awards, where we look at which trainers, jockeys and sires have improved their performance the most on the previous season.

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.