A remarkable increase of more than $12.5 million in total prize money paid out headlined many highlights for Australian harness racing the 2022 season.
The nine per cent increase from $139,353,472 in 2021 to $151,989,477 last year is the greatest year-on-year jump in 13 years and even that came in the 2008/09 season, off the back of the devastating Equine Influenza outbreak in Australia.
Within these figures, trotters prizemoney alone grew by $1.2m and has now grown by $5m in the past 5-years.
Interestingly, while the national ratings system has been a major and somewhat controversial talking point, the statistics since it was introduced in the 2018/19 season are impressive.
Average prize money earned per starter since then has jumped a significant 20 per cent from $12,960 to $15,613. The $15,613 earned per starter in 2022 is the highest of all time.
Vitally, our Standardbreds are racing more often now, too – both more of them, and more often, as crop utilisation continues to improve. The average starts per horse in 2022 was 13.5 – the highest since statistics started being recorded in 1993/94 when it was just 9.8.
And the number of individual winners soared in the ’22 season to 6023. That is the most since the 2012/13 season.
Dig deeper and the spread of prize money earned per starter has changed and grown massively since the inception of the national ratings system.
In season 2018/19 there were 19.69% of starters who earned $0-999. Last year that was down to 15.99%.
The most significant growth has come in the bands from $10,000-19,999; $20,000-29,999 and $30,000-39,999.
Since 2018/19, they have grown from:
In fact, more than 46 per cent of those horses who raced in 2022 earned greater than $10,000.
This was all on the back of crucial record wagering growth.
In 2022, total wagering topped $3.64 billion, which represents a 25 per cent growth in the past five years. International export growth was slower at 1.7% growth, but returns to Clubs grew almost twice that, at 3.21%, which converts to $4.49m in revenue.
Despite the fears of a “Covid normalisation” impacting 2022, total wagering grew by six per cent year-on-year.
Part of this is driven by the reduction in odds-on favourites (shorter than $2) since the introduction of the national ratings system.
Since it was introduced in 2018, the number of favourites at $1.90 or shorter has been slashed by 25 per cent.
A deeper dive shows the number of really prohibitively short favourites ($1.30 or shorter) has been reduced even further – by 33 per cent since 2018.
The call for more opportunities for mares to protect the breeding industry was also heard with an additional 100 mares-only races being run in 2022 compared to the previous season. Non-starter Mares in the Stud Book have fallen, while the total number of mares winning races has risen. This includes in the 2 to 4 win, 5 to 10 win and 11 to 20 win category ranges.
After a period of decline, 2022 also saw a welcome growth in the number of licensed harness racing drivers, up from 1867 to 1874.
To illustrate these industry achievements further, the attached infographic, has been developed to illustrate the major highlights.
