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.
The racing of Thoroughbred horses is a popular gaming and spectator sport and industry in New Zealand.
Vintage Crop was a British-bred Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse best known for becoming the first northern hemisphere trained runner to win Australia's premier race the Melbourne Cup. The chestnut gelding competed in flat racing in Ireland, England, and Australia from 1992 to 1995. He won 16 races in Ireland, England, and Australia. For his performance during the 1993 racing season he earned the Cartier Award for Top Stayer.
Sir Tristram was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who stood at stud in New Zealand, where he sired an extraordinary 45 Group One winners, including three Melbourne Cup winners. His progeny earned him 17 official Leading Australasian sire premierships, plus nine broodmare sire titles.
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.
Todman was one of the greatest Australian Thoroughbred racehorses and an important sire. He was perhaps best known as the winner of the inaugural STC Golden Slipper in 1957, being the first of Star Kingdom's five successive winners of the race. In 2023, he was described as "the best winner of the race". He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2005.
Galilee (1963−1990) was New Zealand bred Thoroughbred racehorse who became one of the most successful racehorses in Australia. Galilee was the first and is still the only horse to win the Caulfield, Melbourne and Sydney Cups in one season.
Zamazaan was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion sire in New Zealand and Australia.
Volksraad was a British-bred thoroughbred horse who when standing at stud in New Zealand was a champion sire. He dominated the New Zealand sires lists, with six consecutive titles from 2001 to 2007.
Pentire was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Michelle J. Payne is an Australian jockey. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance, and is the first and only female jockey to win the event.
Shocking is an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse, trained by Mark Kavanagh, who won the 149th Melbourne Cup on 3 November 2009 by three-quarters of a length.
Hycilla was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare, who raced during World War II and was best known for winning the classic Oaks Stakes in 1944. Unraced as a juvenile, she finished second on her three-year-old debut before winning the Oaks, which was run that year at Newmarket Racecourse. She was beaten when favourite for St Leger but ended her year with a win in the Champion Stakes. In the following year, she failed to win but ran well in defeat when third in a strongly-contested Coronation Cup. She retired to become a broodmare in the United States but made little impact, producing four minor stakes winners.
The 2015 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 155th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 3 November 2015 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse. The date is a public holiday in the state of Victoria. The final field for the race was declared on 31 October. The total prize money for the race was A$6.2 million, the same as the previous year.
Ultra Thoroughbred Racing Pty Ltd are breeders of thoroughbred racehorses based in Melbourne, Australia. The company is owned by Sean Buckley, with land holdings in Victoria and the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. The business has racing interests primarily in Australia and New Zealand.
Gold Rod was a New Zealand bred chestnut thoroughbred stallion who raced in Australia from a two-year-old to a six-year-old recording 16 wins from 5 furlongs to 1¾ miles with Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee Maurice McCarten being his regular jockey.
O'Reilly was a New Zealand bred and trained thoroughbred racehorse who won two Group 1 races.
Pakistan II (1958-1972) was an English thoroughbred racehorse, who became a champion sire in New Zealand.
The 1979 Melbourne Cup was a handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 5 November 1979 over 3200m, at Flemington Racecourse.
The 1987 Melbourne Cup was a handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 3 November 1987 over 3200m, at Flemington Racecourse for a stake of $1,285,000.
