Thoroughbred horse racing is an important 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.
Michael Hills is a retired British flat racing jockey. He is twin brother to Richard Hills and their father is racehorse trainer Barry Hills. Michael has a series of hobbies, such as darts and snooker, he also breeds Canaries and Finches Michael is sponsored by Carraig Insurance.
Balmerino was a bay Thoroughbred stallion that was foaled at Cambridge in the Waikato region of New Zealand. He later became a champion racehorse with many international successes.
The Black Caviar Lightning, registered as the Lightning Stakes, is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 thoroughbred horse race at Weight for Age, run over a distance of 1000 metres at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in February. Prize money is A$750,000.
Jeune was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in England and Australia and is best known for winning the prestigious Melbourne Cup in 1994. He was a muscular chestnut stallion who sometimes raced in pacifiers. He had an aversion towards wet ground and was most effective on ground which was at least dead.
Fastnet Rock is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse stallion.
Takeover Target was a much-travelled Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won top sprinting races in each of the five major cities in Australia as well as in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Singapore.
Bletchingly (1970–1993) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion. A brilliant sprinter, he was by the successful speed stallion Biscay out of Coogee (GB). Bletchingly was bred by Stanley Wootton on the Baramul Stud in the Widden Valley, and was a three-quarter brother to another high-class sprinter, Beaches. Stanley Wootton had imported Bletchingly's grandsire, Star Kingdom (IRE), from the United Kingdom in the 1950s, and the Irish stallion established Australia's foremost 20th century sireline.
Johannesburg is a Kentucky-bred United States and European Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.
Zabeel was a New Zealand-bred racehorse who predominantly raced in Australia. He was retired to stud and became a champion sire. He is a bay son of Sir Tristram (IRE) from the Nureyev mare Lady Giselle. During his racing career, he won seven races, including the Moonee Valley Stakes in 1989 and the Australian Guineas, the Alister Clark Stakes, and the Craiglee Stakes in 1990.
Rubiton was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse of the mid-1980s.
Sun Chariot was a Thoroughbred racehorse who achieved the English Fillies Triple Crown by winning the 1,000 Guineas, the Oaks, and the St. Leger in 1942.
Henrythenavigator is an American-bred and Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 2000 Guineas, the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the St. James's Palace Stakes and the Sussex Stakes in 2008.
The Global Sprint Challenge is a Thoroughbred horse racing series inaugurated in 2005 as a series of six sprint races run across three racing jurisdictions in Australia, England and Japan. In 2006 the series expanded to seven races across four racing jurisdictions with the inclusion of a race in Hong Kong. In 2008 the series expanded to eight races when an additional race in England became part of the series and in 2011 the series expands to nine races with the inclusion of a race in Singapore.
Viewed was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 148th Melbourne Cup on 4 November 2008.
The HDF McNeil Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, at set weights with penalties, over a distance of 1200 metres at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in late August or early September. Total prizemoney for the race is A$200,000.
The 2009 World Thoroughbred Rankings was the 2009 edition of the World Thoroughbred Rankings. It was an assessment of Thoroughbred racehorses issued by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) in January 2010. It included horses aged three or older which competed in flat races during 2009. It was open to all horses irrespective of where they raced or were trained.
Harbinger is a retired thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2010.
Fleeting Spirit is a retired, Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was trained in the United Kingdom during a racing career which lasted from 2007 to 2010. She was a specialist sprinter, running all of her races over five and six furlongs. Fleeting Spirit was the highest-rated British-trained two-year-old filly of 2007 and went on to win the Group Two Temple Stakes at Haydock in 2008 and the Group One July Cup in 2009. In the last named year she was awarded the title of European Champion Sprinter at the Cartier Racing Awards.
Scenic was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a juvenile in 1988 he was beaten on his debut but won his next three races, ending his season by dead-heating with Prince of Dance in the Dewhurst Stakes. As a three-year-old he won the Scottish Classic, as well as finishing third in the St James's Palace Stakes and fourth in the Champion Stakes. He failed to win in three starts in 1990 and was retired to stud at the end of the year. He later became a very successful breeding stallion in Australia, where he died in 2005.
