Features

Horse Racing is not a one-team sport
I barrack for Essendon (haven’t had much to cheer about for 20 years) and I was as parochial as you can get in the Ashes, supporting the Aussies against the Poms in the five Tests just gone during the current English summer. There’s also a passing interest in the State Of Origin in the rugby... Read More
More from By The Numbers

Cost of living and the thoroughbred industry
With cost-of-living pressures dominating the headlines over the past 12 months, By The Numbers looks at how the thoroughbred industry has been historically impacted by high inflation. You would have to be living under a rock to have not realised that the global economy is undergoing a major challenge with inflation over the past year.... Read More

Caballus
We’ve all been struck by it, at various points in our lives: that sight that barges into the mind’s landscape, arresting the eye, setting the pulse thrumming a little faster. Sometimes it’s a person. For many, it’s a horse. Breeder Verna Metcalfe has been around thoroughbreds for probably more decades than she’d care to remember.... Read More

International influence dominant among top freshmen
The influence of international bloodlines among Australia’s top stallions has grown significantly in the past 30 years and was especially strong at the top end of the 2022-23 first-season sires tables. When Justify (Scat Daddy) stood his first season at Coolmore Australia’s Jerrys Plains in 2019, he was part of the smallest cohort of shuttle... Read More

21 for Blue Point
New winners Blue Point – Darley Stud shuttler Blue Point (Shamardal) scored a double last week, taking his tally of northern hemisphere winners to 21. The double was kicked off by Shady Lady’s (2 f ex Akrivi by Tobougg) victory over 1400 metres at Compiegne on Monday. Having run fourth on debut, Shady Lady showed... Read More

Zac Lloyd, Angela Jones lead record-breaking apprentices
The statistics indicate that Australia’s apprentice riding ranks have rarely been as strong as they are right now. Zac Lloyd’s historic success in the very competitive race to become the champion Sydney apprentice for the 2022-23 racing season, puts him, statistically, alongside some of Australia’s most prominent riders. Only four apprentice jockeys since comprehensive records... Read More