Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everythi
TTR’s problems-and-solutions series has so far heard from a trainer, breeder, punter, race club board member and welfare advocate. The next response comes from Olly Tait, who with his wife Amber owns Twin Hills Stud at Cootamundra, NSW.
What is the biggest problem in racing?
The number of people involved with owning a small share in a racehorse is something Australia excels at. We are world leaders in making ownership accessible to lots of people through syndicates and these owners of small shares have been the bedrock of our industry for the past 15 years or so.
The anticipation of competition, the thrill of winning, the disappointment of losing, the admiration of your peers. That is what racing a good horse provides. Horse racing provides a person who can’t play professional sport the platform to experience the thrill of playing professional sport.
Unfortunately, what the Australian industry has been less successful at is attracting high net worth individuals to own a racehorse, or indeed a stable of racehorses. Since Darley’s acquisition of the Woodlands bloodstock assets in 2008 (18 years ago), Yulong’s investment in the Australian industry stands out. But it is noteworthy that in that time there have been few new investors of scale.
Olly Tait | Image courtesy of Twn Hills Stud
Why is this? After all, whilst expensive, the buy in to compete at this elite level of the sport is small compared to owning a share of a sporting franchise like a football team, or indeed a racing yacht or car. Furthermore, there is no restriction on the number of horses that a person can own, thereby increasing their chances of success.
Making the experience of owning a good racehorse an elite experience is imperative to making the sport attractive to those of considerable means. Look at Royal Ascot or the Kentucky Derby. They are two of the greatest racing events on the calendar. Excellent prizemoney is on offer but it is the prestige and tradition of these events that makes them special. The Melbourne Cup has similar DNA.
Prizemoney distribution in Australia has become increasingly focussed on a large number of races at the top end. According to Aushorse, Australia staged 109 races worth $1 million or more in the 2025/26 season, which is more than any other racing jurisdiction (47 of these are in New South Wales).
Conversely, according to a study undertaken by Arrowfield’s John Messara that was cited in the publication The Straight, only 10% of horses that race in New South Wales break even in terms of prizemoney versus training and upkeep costs.
Therefore, in my opinion, there exists an imbalance that is skewed too far towards the lottery prize and does not pay enough attention to the cost of the lottery ticket. The decision making around this imbalance is mitigated in the case of syndicates by the cost for each share being quite small, whilst still enjoying the thrill of owning a racehorse. But the imbalance does not encourage people to risk incurring the cost of having large shares or multiple horses in training, as the chances of recouping costs are only 10%.
Another consequence of having prizemoney skewed toward the top end is that it attracts a large number of horses from overseas to compete. This can provide an interesting narrative in the promotion of the races, but it also could be argued that a narrative around local horses with local connections is of equal interest. The prizemoney won by these horses from overseas leaves the Australian thoroughbred ecosystem. European horses that are purchased by Australians to race in Australia also results in a massive outflow of funds from the Australian industry. And this puts pressure on our local thoroughbred ecosystem.
Our ecosystem is getting smaller. The Australian foal crop has reduced by 30% in the past 20 years, in a period of growth for prizemoney and of course growth in the economy. This puts pressure on the entire sport, as the numbers of horses available to run in races is reducing which in turn affects betting turnover and prizemoney available for distribution.
We need to attract individuals from across the economic spectrum to participate in our sport. We need to position ourselves as a way of playing professional sport, if you can’t play professional sport.
What is the solution?
Make it glamorous. Leverage off the tradition, like Royal Ascot, the Kentucky Derby and the Melbourne Cup. Make the experience, at a discreet number of events, irresistible. Remember, tennis and golf only have four events per annum that cut through. But they really do cut through.
Let’s have big prizemoney races that embody the tradition and glamour, but let’s limit the number of them and put more prizemoney on lesser races to make the ownership of a greater number of horses affordable. The redistribution of more prizemoney to midweek, provincial and country racing will encourage more people to be in the ecosystem.
What metrics should we judge ourselves by? Let’s arrest the declining numbers of the national foal crop. And let’s increase the number of people who in their own right own five horses or more in training.
To drive this, instead of 10% of horses in training breaking even financially, let’s aim to make it 20%. Effect this improvement by changing the distribution of the prizemoney, which is something that racing authorities can act on quickly. Reduce the price of the lottery tickets by reducing the number of mega lotteries that we run. Ensure that prestige and admiration is a key part of the reward of winning a big race.
Winning a big race can feel like winning a premiership or a big tournament. Winning a small race is difficult and needs to be financially rewarding.
Let’s aim to have a sport that everyone wants to play!
So we put the question back to the industry: how would you reorganise prize money to incentivise investment, and what top prize races will make the cut?
Email your thoughts to vicky@ttrausnz.com.au.
Read the other answers in this series:
