Group races season 2007/2008
The horse racing industry is highly regulated, or at least, highly transparent with reams of useful information available for the public to scrutinise. A statistician’s paradise, just about any variant of a theme could be calculated and analysed covering any period, geographic location, age and sex together forming a unique sample. (For instance, you could work out the optimum age of a dam when she is sent to stud to produce a Group 1 winner).

There are a myriad of resources available to collate such information such as the Bloodhound (www.bloodhound.com.au) and Australian Stud Book (www.studbook.org.au) websites. The Australian Racing Board’s annual publication, “Australian Racing Fact Book” is another useful guide.

Why analyse?
Put simply, analysis of the racing and breeding information available to horse owners and breeders is sure to place them at a competitive advantage. Too many in the horse industry adopt a “herd mentality” to decision making, that is, if you hear something often enough then you’ll believe it. Like most industries, marketing plays a major part in the horse breeding industry. Broodmare owners had 819 stallions to choose from in Australia during the 2007/2008 season. Naturally one’s budget and geographical location may restrict the number of suitable stallions on offer. Nevertheless, careful stallion selection is one of the most crucial decisions a breeder will make to enhance his or her chance of success. If you are not devoting many hours to this selection process then you are placing your business at a disadvantage. Carefully analysing relevant information should be performed on a regular basis in line with your business goals and objectives.

Analysis of Australian group races – Season 2007/2008
To illustrate the usefulness of conducting such analysis, we have taken a closer look at all Australian group races in season 2007/2008.

Admittedly it could be argued that 2007/2008 was not a typical year in Australian racing due to the adverse impact suffered through EI. The 2007/2008 season featured 29 fewer group races compared to the previous year. Certain parts of Australia, mainly NSW, were more affected by EI. As with most statistics, the results should be viewed with some caution especially where anomalies may be present.

Nevertheless, the facts are the facts and during the 2007/2008 Australian racing season, there were 29,576 registered horses with 62 Group 1’s, 73 Group 2’s and 95 Group 3’s on offer for total group races prizemoney of A$81,994,035.

The prizemoney is one component of the reward for excellence at Group level. Equally important is the “black” type associated with the performance which remains in tact forever and can add value to the breeding outcome for generations thereafter. It is for this reason that Group Racing means everything for those serious in the horse racing industry. To analyse where Group Winners come from should be standard practice for horse businesses seeking their own future Group successes.

Overall
Our analysis centred on winners of Group races (refer table below for summary of results). In total $49,212,355 first prize was won by Group winners representing 13.86% of total prizemoney in Australia of A$355,043,530 (excluding incentives). The median age of a broodmare when she went to stud to produce the resultant group winner was 8 years old. The median age for the Stallion was 9 years old. The third foal of the broodmare, on average, was most successful at Group level during the 2007/08 season. The average advertised service fee to produce a Group winner in 2007/2008 was A$27,315 including GST. In fact, 75% of all group winners were produced by a stallion with an advertised service fee of A$30,000 or less.

Group 1
A total of 62 Group 1 races were contested in the 2007/08 season. 50% of all Group 1 winners were by stallions residing in NSW at the time the horse was bred. Victoria accounted for 26% of Group 1 winners and NZ 18%. This compares to NSW on average standing 35% of Australia’s stallions with Queensland and Victoria standing approximately 23% on average each. Of the 45 individual Group 1 winners, 20% were the first foals of the dam.

The median age of the broodmares when they went to stud to conceive the resulting Group 1 winner was 8 years of age. The average age of the stallion responsible for the Group 1 winner was 9.5 years old. 52 of the 62 or 84% of winners of Group 1 races was the result of a service fee of A$30,000 or less.

53.2% of Group 1 winners were geldings. Sarrera was the oldest Group 1 winner at 8 years of age winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Doomben Cup.

Summary
Statistics in the horse industry are readily available and should be considered and monitored by serious horse owners and breeders. To consider one year in isolation would be problematic however to collate and track data over a period of time just may place your horse business at a competitive advantage. If statistics are carefully designed to meet your needs and unique circumstances, then you should be able to develop a very valuable tool to improve your horse business.