From size - to strength - to success - Asia has made a massive impact on the world's racing landscape.

According to The International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities
("IFHA") statistics Asian racing delivers 39.3% of global prize money, its regional betting turnover accounts for 63.9% of the world total, and breeding 35%.

An integral factor in the evolution and success of racing in Asia is the Australian thoroughbred. The most salient example of this was Silent Witness' recent crowning as the best sprinter in the world.

AUSHORSE chairman and Director of Arrowfield Stud, John Messara, states:

"Australia is among the best placed nations to service Asia as far as bloodstock is concerned. We are in the same time zone, our horses are fast and tough, and we understand Asian culture from decades of trading with the region."

Magic Millions commissioned Athlone to profile the racing industries of seven Asian countries. The reports were summarised for a special Magic Millions article in October 2005.

The 7 articles appear in full - exclusively - on this site. The reports
- canvassing Hong Kong, China, Macau, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea - explore a number of challenges the racing industry of each country face as they head towards 2010, as well as analyse the role of the Australian horse in Asia's racing history.

NB - copyright in these articles vests in Magic Millions (Aust.) and Athlone & Associates. Content may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission. Please also note that as these were a commissioned series the emphasis is on Magic Millions Sales Pty Ltd. The author recognises that other international auction companies have also played a significant role in the promotion of the Australian thoroughbred in Asia.

Special thanks to John Baxter for his editing of the series.
 

'Reaching Asia'
227 KB


Published in Magic Millions magazine Oct 2005, pp47-53.

Each report is approx.
40 KB  in Adobe PDF format.

Previously the haunt of the die-hard tech. scene, online diaries - weblogs (“blogs”) - are becoming the modern day voice of the Internet.  There are blogs about politics, blogs about photography, business, PR, sports, writing, art, technology … in fact, there are pretty much blogs about any topic you can imagine.  

A popular industry blog is extremely powerful in terms of audience reach and influence. With researchers predicting 53.4 million blogs worldwide by year's end and the increasing use of RSS as a means of circumventing spam, weblogs seem a trend destined to continue.  

So how many thoroughbred-specific blogs are currently in existence and what focus are they taking? 

Athlone has produced the first comprehensive guide to blogging – specifically as it relates to the thoroughbred industry.

The research report contains the following information:

• Introduction

• Benefits of blogging

• Implications for companies wishing to adopt a blog

• Blog population

• Who are reading blogs?

• Weblog categories

• Format and style considerations

• Customization

• Language

• In search of ‘niche’

• Blog hosting

• Advertising and blogs

• Why blogs dominate search engine rankings

• Judging the success of a blog

• Blog portals

• RSS feeds

• Why blog?

• What are companies paying bloggers

• Blogs as PR tools: Case study Athlone & Associates

• Thoroughbred blogs

The 30-page report can be purchased for AUD$399.  Please contact us at info@athloneassociates.com for further details. 

• What number were re-offered as yearlings in 2003; and 

• Of the total number re-sold, what percentage showed a return on their original investment. 

The results reveal that of the 540 weanlings who qualified for the final research study 245 were re-offered for sale in 2003. 33 per cent returned a profit on their 2002 investment with 29 per cent showing a loss for their speculators. 

The research also demonstrates that:

• Pinhooking (in the weanling to yearling category) is not as widely adopted a form of investment as it is in other parts of the world (most notably North America);

• There appear to be less 'professional pinhookers' in the Australasian market compared to other parts of the world;

• Perhaps surprisingly, the percentage of profitable weanling-yearling pinhooks in Australasia was roughly compatible with the US figures of 39 per cent;

• The majority of pinhooking in Australasia appears to be carried out by individuals and bloodstock agents rather than by pinhooking syndicates;

• As an investment strategy, pinhooking remains a high risk speculative venture with even professional players often failing to see a return on investment.