Older G1 Winners in Australia Paint a Picture of Diversity

On Monday, we took a look at the three year-old Group I winners so far in Australia this season and they were largely sourced from major commercial yearling sales, but the 18 horses that have won Group I races here this spring as older horses paint a very different picture.

Read about the 3YO G1 winners here.

There have been 18 individual older (4YO plus) Group I winners in Australia this season and the following horses were not offered at auction in Australasia– Anamoe and Paulele are Godolphin homebreds, Trix of the Trade was retained to race by his breeders and I’m Thunderstruck was bought privately from NZ.

Although they don’t carry Group I status, the $15million The Everest and $10million Golden Eagle are the richest races of the spring and both were won by horses not offered at auction.

Giga Kick and Golden Eagle winner I Wish I Win (NZ) are homebreds for their respective breeders Jonathan Munz and Waikato Stud.

They elected to keep them when the youngsters were deemed not saleable as yearlings, Giga Kick for lack of pedigree being by unfashionable sire Scissor Kick and I Wish I Win due to a leg conformation issue.

2022/2023 Season Group I Winners in Australia Under 1600m (4YO and up) offered at auction

2022/2023 Season Group I Winners in Australia 1600m and above (4YO and up)

The most significant group in this bracket of older horses winning at 1600m and beyond are the imported tried horses which goes a long way to explaining why Australian buyers have been beating a path to the European racing and breeding stock sales this year.

If you can't find the right product locally, you are of course going to go looking further afield.