Australia, Where Racing Riches Reign Supreme

With 109 races worth $1 million or more held every 3.3 days on average, Australia delivers opportunity and prestige like nowhere else in the world.

“We are very proud to release the 2026 Aushorse Investor’s Guide,” said Andrew Hore-Lacy, CEO of Aushorse and Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, “and its a snapshot of the strength, momentum and global appeal of Australian racing and breeding.”

“With record prizemoney and outstanding opportunities at every level, and world-class racehorses winning on the international stage, Australia continues to outperform every major jurisdiction.”

Now Australia is one of the leading racing jurisdictions by average stakes race prizemoney, surpassing the United States by nearly $100,000 and Europe and Great Britain by more than $200,000.

With the Australian average race valued at $54,296, it’s The Everest that’s our richest race at $20 million with the Melbourne Cup and Golden Eagle both $10 million.

The Cox Plate carries $6 million in stakes, $5 million each for the King Charles III Stakes, Caulfield Cup, Golden Slipper Stakes, Queen Elizabeth Stakes and The Quokka, with the Doncaster Mile at $4 million.

Today Australia stands at the pinnacle of global racing with our Aussie-bred horses having claimed the title of the world’s best sprinter in 15 of the past 20 years, and this year three of the four Group 1 sprinter winners were Australian bred.

Now leading the world with the highest number of Group 1 races in the Global Top 100, 30 total in 2024, Australian sprinting sensation Asfoora has cemented her place in history.

Crowned European Champion Sprinter at the Cartier Awards, and only the third Australian horse to earn the honour and joining Starspangledbanner and Black Caviar, she is one of 14 horses in the past decade to win multiple Group 1 sprints over 1000m to 1200m.

In the last Hong Kong Racing season eight of the Top 10 Hong Kong sires were Australian based, with 61% of the horse population in Hong Kong being wholly dominated by Australian-breds.

Importantly, buyers in Australia pay less on average at yearling sales than in America, Europe, and the U.K., while gaining greater access to future stakes winners and Group 1 winners.

Despite the lower initial cost, residual value remains high in Australia, for over the past decade the average price of stakes-winning fillies and mares at breeding stock sales have soared.

Now at a high 91%, its Group 1 and Group 2 winners that have more than doubled over the same period, while the demand and competition for stallion prospects remain strong with their values having surged over the past decade.

And with the Aushorse Investors’ Guide being the unofficial launch of the 2026 Australian Yearling Sale Calendar it begins with the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on 13-18 January.

The Inglis Classic Yearling Sale is 8-10 February, Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale 19-20 February, Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale 23 February and Inglis Premier Yearlings 1-3 March.

The Magic Millions March Yearling Sale is 12-13 March, Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale 19-20 March, Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale 29-30 March and Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale on 19 April.

Even more remarkably, she is the only non-European-bred sprinter to achieve multiple Group 1 victories in Europe at these distances over the last ten years, in a stunning testament to Australia’s world-class breeding and racing excellence