Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
For decades, Arion Pedigrees has been one of the quiet engines behind Southern Hemisphere bloodstock research. Its data sits behind buying decisions, breeding plans, catalogue work, sire analysis and countless late-night pedigree searches.
Now, the business is preparing for its next shift.
A new agreement with The Jockey Club Information Systems in America will give Arion Pedigrees access to licensed North American racing and pedigree data, strengthening the information available to Southern Hemisphere users at a time when the bloodstock market is becoming more global, more mobile and more reliant on fast, accurate research.
However, this agreement is only part of the story. Arion is also preparing to launch a major rebuild of its website, with a more mobile-friendly interface, custom report-building tools, deeper sales functionality and more flexible ways for users to interrogate pedigree, racing and sales data.
TTR spoke to Arion Pedigrees Managing Director Kyla Johnston about the company’s agreement with The Jockey Club Information Systems, the new platform, and what users can expect from the next generation of Arion.
Opening up American data
“The agreement allows us to give our users more coverage of American data. It will enhance our current and future products and help showcase American racing to the rest of the world,” Johnston said.
This week, Arion Pedigrees and The Jockey Club Information Systems signed an agreement to license North American racing and pedigree data to Arion.
“The agreement allows us to give our users more coverage of American data. It will enhance our current and future products and help showcase American racing to the rest of the world.” - Kyla Johnston
The move is designed to make American racing and bloodstock information more accessible to Southern Hemisphere racing participants, while also increasing the visibility of North American bloodlines in international markets.
For current Arion users, the value of the agreement is direct. It gives them greater coverage of American data through a platform they already use for research across racing, breeding and sales.
“Expanding the influence of the North American Thoroughbred around the globe begins with extending the availability of North American breeding and racing data into new markets,” said Matt Iuliano, president of TJC Innovations.
Matt Iuliano | Image courtesy TJCIS
Johnston said the agreement represented an important opportunity for both organisations, with the potential to support innovation, collaboration and long-term growth across the wider racing industry.
For Arion, these agreements are important because data is only as strong as its source. Behind every search, report and pedigree page is a network of relationships with racing authorities and information providers around the world.
The agreement also comes at a point where American bloodlines are attracting growing interest from Australasian breeders and buyers.
The global bloodstock market is not viewed in neat regional silos, so for users in this part of the world, broader North American data can shape how pedigrees are assessed, how catalogue pages are interpreted and how emerging international patterns are understood.
The more complete the data, the better the questions users can ask, and that is where the next version of Arion becomes particularly important.
A new platform for a different type of user
Arion is preparing to launch a new website this year, with Johnston confirming several major projects have been underway behind the scenes.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Arion Pedigrees. We are going to launch our new website this year, and we are excited about some new developments to be released shortly,” she said.
The new site will initially run in parallel with the current platform, giving users time to adjust while still retaining access to the products and reports they already know.
“The new site has been designed with a modern, responsive interface, making it significantly easier to use across mobile devices,” Johnston said.
“The new site has been designed with a modern, responsive interface, making it significantly easier to use across mobile devices.” - Kyla Johnston
Bloodstock research is no longer confined to an office desktop with buyers looking at catalogues on their iPad, agents are checking pages between inspections and breeders reviewing sire options on the move. Trainers, syndicators and bloodstock managers are often making quick comparisons while at sales complexes, farms or race meetings.
A more mobile Arion reflects the way the industry now works.
Kyla Johnston | Image courtesy of Rocket Reach
The bigger change, however, is flexibility.
Rather than relying only on static reports, the rebuilt platform will allow users to create their own reports and shape data around their own questions.
“Rather than a static set of reports, users will have access to custom report-building tools, allowing them to create reports tailored to their specific requirements,” said Johnston.
“This functionality will be particularly valuable within the sire reporting and custom sire table areas.
“We are also developing a much more comprehensive sales section. Users will be able to create their own reports and graphical analyses, providing deeper insights into sales and pedigree data.
“There will also be a searchable upcoming sales entries section, enabling users to identify and research prospective lots through detailed horse profile information.”
“We are also developing a much more comprehensive sales section. Users will be able to create their own reports and graphical analyses, providing deeper insights into sales and pedigree data.” - Kyla Johnston
The upcoming sales functionality is likely to be one of the most closely watched developments for agents, breeders and buyers.
Sales catalogues are already dense with information, but the challenge is rarely a lack of data. The challenge is finding the right data quickly, filtering it intelligently and turning it into something useful.
A searchable upcoming sales section, supported by detailed horse profiles, custom reports and graphical analysis, has the potential to make that process more efficient.
For buyers, it could help narrow long catalogues into more focused shortlists. For breeders, it could highlight how certain families, crosses or sirelines are being received in the market. For agents, it could make it easier to compare prospective lots across pedigree, performance and commercial criteria.
The result is a more active form of research.
The infrastructure behind bloodstock decisions
Arion Pedigrees has long occupied an important but understated place in the Australasian racing and breeding industry.
It is not a sales company, a stud farm or a racing authority. But its data is embedded in the decisions every commercial business in the bloodstock industry makes.
The Jockey Club Information Systems said it expected the agreement to increase the visibility of North American bloodlines in international markets, while also fostering the development of new technology-driven data products.
The Jockey Club Information Systems App | Image courtesy of The Jockey Club
For Johnston, the focus is on building tools to support better research and broader industry use.
For the user, the promise is simple: more data, better access, greater flexibility and more control over the questions they want to ask.
If Arion’s existing platform has become indispensable to many in the bloodstock world, its next iteration is being built for a more demanding market.
One where speed, accuracy and global context matters more than ever. And the best users are no longer just looking for information, but for sharper ways to interrogate it.
