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.
Omaha was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the third winner of the American Triple Crown.
Carbine (1885–1914) was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won 30 principal races in New Zealand and Australia. He was very popular with racing fans, and sporting commentators of the day praised him for his gameness, versatility, stamina and weight-carrying ability, as well as for his speed. He was one of five inaugural inductees into both the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame and the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
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.
Harness racing, also colloquially known as trotting or the trots, is a spectator sport in Australia, with significant amounts of money wagered annually with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). In Australia there are 90 harness racing tracks, which hold over 1,900 meetings annually. There are approximately 2,900 drivers and 4,000 trainers with about 5,000 Standardbred horses foaled and registered each year.
Hondo Grattan was a Standardbred pacer from Bathurst, New South Wales known as the "Bathurst Bulldog". He won the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship in both 1973 and 1974, becoming the first horse to successfully defend an Inter Dominion title. Hondo Grattan was the first horse in Australia to win (AUD)$200,000 and also the first horse to win 21 races at Harold Park Paceway. He was a winner at a time of top competition, that included horses such as Pure Steel and Paleface Adios. He was inducted into the Inter Dominion Hall of Fame.
Fantastic Light is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and pensioned sire. He was foaled in the United States but was trained in England and Dubai during his racing career, which ran from August 1998 to his retirement following the Breeders' Cup Turf in October 2001. He raced in seven countries, winning Group One/Grade I races in five of them and was a dual winner of the Emirates World Series Racing Championship. He was named United States Champion Male Turf Horse, European Horse of the Year and European Champion Older Horse in 2001. He was also well known for his two races against the 2001 Epsom Derby winner Galileo. In August 2012 it was announced that he had been pensioned from stallion duty while in Japan and would return to Dalham Hall in England to live out his days as a pensioner.
Celtic Swing was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the French Derby in 1995 and was also known for his performances in the autumn of the previous year, when his wins at Ascot and at Doncaster led to the horse being the highest-rated two-year-old in modern European racing.
Alycidon (1945–1963) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was described as "one of the greatest stayers in history". In a career which lasted from the autumn of 1947 until September 1949 he ran seventeen times and won eleven races. He was the second best British three-year-old of his generation, when he finished second to Black Tarquin in the St Leger Stakes. He was undefeated in his remaining seven races, defeating Black Tarquin in the 1949 Ascot Gold Cup and going on to win the Stayers' Triple Crown. After his retirement from racing he became the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1955, despite having low fertility and a relatively short career at stud.
So You Think is a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse, now majority owned by Coolmore Stud of Ireland. So You Think came to prominence through winning the 2009 and 2010 Cox Plates, Australia's premier weight for age race. His first Cox Plate win was at only his fifth career start. His second Cox Plate win came at just his tenth career start. He started as favourite for the 2010 Melbourne Cup but finished third, in his first race past 2,040 metres. So You Think was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2019.
Kennaquhair was an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse that won the Sydney Cup, and the AJC Metropolitan Handicap as well as finishing second in the 1918 Melbourne Cup.
Cremorne (1869–1883) was British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1871 to 1873 he ran twenty-five times and won nineteen races. He was one of the leading British two-year-olds of 1870, when he won nine of his eleven starts. In the summer of 1872 he became the second of six horses to win both The Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. At the end of the 1873 season, in which he won the Ascot Gold Cup, he was retired to stud, where he was moderately successful. He died in 1881. Cremorne was regarded by contemporary authorities as one of the best horses of his era in England.
Favonius (1868–1877) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1871 to 1873, he ran ten times and won five races. In June 1871 he won The Derby on his second racecourse appearance. He went on to prove himself a top class stayer, winning the Goodwood Cup in 1872. Favonius was regarded by contemporary observers as one of the best English-trained horses of his era. At the end of the 1873 season he was retired to stud but had little chance to make an impact as a stallion before his death four years later. Favonius’s Derby win was one of the highlights of what became known as “The Baron’s Year”, in which his owner, Baron Meyer de Rothschild won four of the five British Classic Races.
Gang Forward (1870–1899) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from 1872 until 1874 he won ten races. He was one of the best colts of his generation in England, winning the 2000 Guineas in 1873. He later became a successful sire of winners in Australia.
Black Tarquin (1945–1965) was an American-bred, British-trained racehorse and sire, best known for winning the St. Leger Stakes in 1948 and for his rivalry with Alycidon. In a career which lasted from June 1947 until July 1949, he ran fifteen times and won eight races. He was one of the leading two-year-olds of 1947, although he did not race after winning the Gimcrack Stakes in August. He was slow to reach peak fitness in 1948, and was unplaced in The Derby, but showed his best form in autumn when he beat a strong field in the St. Leger Stakes. His form continued into the following spring, but his career was effectively ended by his defeat in the Ascot Gold Cup. The victories of Black Tarquin led to a change in the way in which the Thoroughbred was defined in Britain.
Longboat was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist over extreme distances, who produced his best form on fast ground, he completed the "Stayers' Triple Crown" in 1986 when he won the Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup. In all he won nine of his eighteen races between October 1983 and September 1986, with his other major wins coming in the Alycidon Stakes, Sagaro Stakes and Henry II Stakes. He was exported to Australia where he was retired from racing following an injury. He proved a failure as a breeding stallion.
Free Eagle is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. He was very lightly campaigned in his early career, appearing four times in two years. As a juvenile he won impressively on his debut but was comprehensively beaten by Australia on his only other start. After a lengthy absence he returned in September 2014 to win the Enterprise Stakes by seven lengths and then finished third in the Champion Stakes. On his first appearance as a four-year-old he defeated a world-class field to win the Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Papineau was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. Unraced as a juvenile, he showed promise as a three-year-old in France, winning two races including the Prix de l'Avre. As a four-year-old, he was campaigned in England and was unbeaten in three starts. After winning a minor race on his seasonal debut he won a strongly-contested edition of the Henry II Stakes and then recorded his biggest success in the Ascot Gold Cup. He made two appearances as a five-year-old but failed to recover his best form.
Big Orange is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. After failing to win a two-year-old he made good progress in 2014, winning three of his six races including the Chester Stakes and Noel Murless Stakes. He emerged a top class performer in the following year, winning the Princess of Wales's Stakes and the Goodwood Cup and took the same two races in 2016. In 2017 he won the Henry II Stakes and then recorded his biggest win in the Ascot Gold Cup.
