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.
Kingston Town was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races and was the 1980 Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.
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.
Sunline was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was the world's highest earning race mare of her time. She won 32 of her 48 races with earnings of NZ$14,200,000. She was named the New Zealand Horse of the Year four times and Australian Horse of the Year three times. She has won the most Group races in modern times with 27, and she previously held the New Zealand record of 13 Group One wins until Melody Belle surpassed her in 2021.
Kindergarten was a New Zealand bred Thoroughbred racehorse that raced during the early 1940s. He won many of the premier events in New Zealand including the Wellington Cup and Auckland Cup for more than £16,000 in stake money, which was a large amount during the War.
Gloaming was an outstanding Thoroughbred racehorse, owned, trained, and based in New Zealand. He set many records which included the Australasian record of 19 successive wins, many in Principal Races. Gloaming was unusual in that he was a champion who won many major races in both Australia and New Zealand. Gloaming still holds the Australasian record of 45 seconds for four furlongs.
Show Gate is a New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame champion thoroughbred racehorse sired by Gatekeeper out of Minglow, a Eulogy mare.
Rough Habit was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won 11 Group One (G1) races on both sides of the Tasman, and won New Zealand's Horse of the Year Award in 1992 and 1995.
Ethereal is a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse. The mare is best known for winning the 2001 Melbourne Cup.
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.
Blushing Groom was a French champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Veandercross was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred gelding who won 14 stakes races,, and was chosen Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year for the 1992–93 season.
Sailor's Guide was an outstanding Thoroughbred racehorse that was conceived in England and foaled in Australia. He is notable in that he won races in the United States, Canada, and a number of principal Australian races, and was a high stakes earner.
Cuddle was an outstanding New Zealand Thoroughbred racemare that won a large number of major races including the 1935 and 1936 Auckland Cups in race record time. She went to Australia in 1936, where she won a number of races including the Doncaster Handicap.
Blue Spec was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who established a new record in winning the Melbourne Cup in 1905. He was a brown stallion bred by Augustus Hooke, jnr. and foaled in 1899 at his Tia River Station, Tia, near Walcha, New South Wales.
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.
Manitoba (1930-1951) was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse that was a race winner in England before he was exported to Australia where he was a leading sire.
Fisherman was a hardy English-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won 70 races including the Ascot Gold Cup on two occasions. Exported into Australia he became a leading sire there.
Gothic was a black Australian thoroughbred stallion who raced for 4 seasons from a three-year-old to a six-year-old, recording major wins from 6 furlongs to 1½ miles and champion Sydney jockey Jim Pike the Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee 2002 winning 9 races.
