Thoroughbred horse racing is a spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horse races is a very popular pastime with A$14.3 billion wagered in 2009/10 with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to 360 registered racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates and photo finish cameras on nearly all Australian racecourses.
Desert Gold was a famous and successful New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who raced at the time of World War I. She raced in Australia and New Zealand, winning 36 races, including 19 in succession.
High Caste was a Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion that was bred in New Zealand and was considered the best two-year-old in New Zealand after winning three of his four race starts. He was a good racehorse under handicap and weight for age conditions and combined this with wins in good races from 5 furlongs to 1+3⁄4 miles (2,800 m), carrying up to 10 stone 6 pounds.
Wakeful was one of the great Thoroughbred mares of the Australian turf. She had shown her versatility by defeating top racehorses at distances from 5½ furlongs to 3 miles. She was unplaced in only three races.
Poseidon was an Australian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. He won 19 races over distances ranging from five furlongs to three miles. Sixteen of these wins were "Principal Races", eight of them now of Group 1 (G1) status.
Ajax was a champion Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, who won 18 consecutive races before he was defeated at the odds of 40/1 on, causing a huge racing sensation. He had wins from 5 furlongs (1,000 metres) to 1½ miles (2,400 metres), equalled the Australasian record for a mile (1,600 metres), and created three new race records. At stud in Australia, Ajax proved to be a good sire. He was then sold as a 14-year-old horse and exported to the United States before he was later sold to Bing Crosby and Lin Howard. Ajax was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.
Heroic (1921–1939) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won 21 races from 5 furlongs to 2 miles (3,200m) and was a leading sire in Australia.
Flight (1940–1953) was an Australian Thoroughbred racemare that was the highest stakes winning mare in Australasia. Her courageous efforts made her a crowd favourite during the post World War II era and she had victories over some of the great horses of the time including Shannon, Bernborough, Royal Gem and Russia.
Leilani was a champion thoroughbred racemare that was bred in New Zealand and raced in Australia. She won six Group One races and a total of 12 black type equivalent races, during her short racing career. At the time of her retirement she held the Australasian earnings record for a mare.
James Wilson was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), captaining the side for a few seasons during the 1870s and 1880s. This was an era when the club won a number of premierships prior to the inception of the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Peter St Albans (1864–1898) is the youngest jockey ever to win the Melbourne Cup. He won in 1876 riding Briseis at the recorded age of thirteen. His record is unlikely to be beaten as he rode in the Melbourne Cup when he was under the stated minimum age of thirteen. He secured the mount for the three-year-old Briseis after the regular stable jockey could not make the featherweight of 6 stone and 4 pounds. Before 75,000 at Flemington Briseis, with St Albans in the saddle, comfortably won by one length in the biggest field of all time. "At 4 o'clock the starter released the 33 runners and they swept down the long Flemington straight in a thundering rush. Briseis, ridden by what one writer termed a mere child, captured a rare double, the Victoria Race Club Derby and the Melbourne Cup. Shouts and hurrahs were heard, hats were thrown in the air and one excited individual fell on his back in the attempt to do a somersault. The boy who rode the winner was carried around the pack and is the hero of the day," reported the Australasian Sketcher in 1876. Both Peter St Albans and Briseis have now become racing legends, and Briseis is regarded as one of the greatest mares foaled in Australia.
Grand Flaneur (1877–1900) was an outstanding Australian Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, who won nine successive races, including the AJC Derby, the Victoria Derby and the 1880 Melbourne Cup, before he retired undefeated. He had won races over distances ranging from five furlongs to three miles. He was the Leading sire in Australia in 1895 and was close to the top of the list for a decade.
Eurythmic (1916–1925) was a versatile Australian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who had the ability to produce a brilliant finishing run in staying races and he also won important sprint races, too. At four he won 12 of his 13 starts including the Caulfield Cup and Sydney Cup. When Eurythmic finished racing he was the greatest stake-winner in Australia. He was later inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Tranquil Star was one of the hardiest and best performed Australian-bred Thoroughbred race-mares. She is the only mare to have won the double of the Caulfield Stakes, now known as the Yalumba Stakes, and the Cox Plate, which is the most prestigious weight-for-age (wfa) race in Australia. Tranquil Star had 111 starts and won over distances ranging from 5 furlongs to 14 furlongs. She was later inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Tulloch was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the greatest Australian stayers.
Wenona Girl was a leading Australian Thoroughbred horse racemare that had 27 wins over distances ranging from 4½ furlongs to 1½ miles. She won 22 principal races, 15 of which were later designated group one (G1) races. Wenona Girl's principal wins included the VRC Sires Produce Stakes, AJC Sires Produce Stakes, George Adams Handicap, One Thousand Guineas, VATC Futurity Stakes, AJC George Main Stakes, AJC All Aged Stakes, AJC Adrian Knox Oaks Stakes, Rawson Stakes and Rosehill Guineas, all of which were later classified as G1 races. At the time of her retirement she was the highest stakes winning mare to have raced in Australia. At stud she was a good broodmare. Wenona Girl was later inducted into Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Thomas Hales was an Australian jockey who has been called the Fred Archer of the Australian turf. During his 20-year career he rode nearly 500 winners, including every major South Australian and Victorian race with the exception of the Caulfield Cup.
James "Old Jim" Wilson was a racehorse trainer in Victoria, Australia, founder of the historic St Albans Stud in Geelong, and trainer of the 1873 Melbourne Cup winner Don Juan and 1876 winner Briseis. His older son James Wilson, Jr. captained the Geelong Football Club and as "Young Jim Wilson" trained 1899 Cup winner Merriwee. His younger son William Wilson was the jockey who rode Don Juan to victory in the 1873 Cup.
Prince Foote (1906–1922) was an Australian Thoroughbred Stallion performing in Australia raced from a two-year-old to a five-year-old, recording 11 wins from 7 furlongs to 3 miles and trained by Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee Frank McGrath senior.
The 1876 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 7 November 1876.
