Group I Australian Racing – The Season That Was

Tara Madgwick - Sunday June 27

The Group I Tatts Tiara at Eagle Fam last Saturday won by Tofane was the final Group I contest of the Australian racing season, so we’ve had a look through the stats to see where the best of the best have come from.

We had 59 individual Group I winners of 75 Group I races and the multiple Group I winners were: Verry Elleegant (NZ) (5), Arcadia Queen (2), Behemoth (2), Eduardo (2), Explosive Jack (NZ) (2), Hungry Heart (2), Kolding (NZ) (2), Montefilia (2), Ole Kirk (2), Nature Strip (2), Probabeel (NZ) (2), Sir Dragonet (IRE) (2) and Tofane (NZ) (2).

Verry Ellegant was the dominant performer in Australia this season by quite a margin! - image Steve Hart

So based on that, Kiwi bred mare Verry Eleegant is the only choice for Australian Horse of the Year for 2021.

Aus Bred

Australian bred horses accounted for the lion’s share of Group I winners as seen in the table below.

Country of origin	Number of Australian G1 winners
Australia	38
New Zealand	10
GB/ Ireland	8
USA	1
Japan	1
South Africa	1

The Price of a G1 Winner

Not as expensive as you may think with three Group I winners purchased for less than $10,000 at public auction in Media Award ($5,000 at Inglis Melbourne Gold), Behemoth ($6,000 at MM National Yearling Sale) and Savatoxl ($8,000 at Inglis Vobis Gold).

G1 SAJC Australasian Oaks winner Media Award was bought as a yearling for $5,00

Most expensive Group I winners were Ole Kirk ($675,000 at Inglis Premier), Personal ($640,000 at Inglis Easter ) and Captivant ($550,000 at Magic Millions).

Group I Sires

Stallions with more than one Group I winner were:

Frankel (GB) (3) – Hungry Heart, Converge, Mirage Dancer
Shamus Award (3) – Duais, Media Award, Mr Quickie
Written Tycoon (3) – Ole Kirk, Odeum, Frankel
All Too Hard (2) – Forbidden Love, Behemoth
Camelot (IRE) – Russian Camelot, Sir Dragonet
Exceed and Excel (2) – Bivouac, September Run
Not a Single Doubt (2) – Shout the Bar, Instant Celebrity
Ocean Park (2) – Koldin, Tofane
Street Boss (USA) (2)- Anamoe, Elite Street
Savabeel (2) – Probabeel, Mo’Unga

Broodmare sires with more than one Group I winner were:

More Than Ready (USA) (4) – Media Award, Celebrity Queen, Bivouac, Forbidden Love
Redoute’s Choice (4) – Arcadia Queen, Anamoe, Savatiano, Artorius
Red Ransom (USA) (3) – Odeum, Homesman, Selino
Zabeel (3) – Think It Over, Johnny Get Angry, Inspirational Girl
Galileo (2) – Personal, Tofane
General Nediym (2) – Mr Quickie, Hey Doc
O’Reilly (2) – Shout the Bar, Mo’Unga
Oasis Dream (2) – Sir Dragonet, Twilight Payment
Street Cry (IRE) (2) – Cascadian, September Run