Information sources

02 Australian racing / Betfair Education / 01 December 2008 / 1 Comments

Australia loves its racing, with over 350 thoroughbred racecourses spread over the country. The main day is Saturday, where racing takes place in each of the mainland State capitals.

Major carnivals (known in the UK as festivals) traverse the length and breadth of the country throughout the year. Melbourne is known for its spring carnival, featuring the Caulfield Cup (Gr1 Hcp over 2400m), the W.S. Cox Plate (WFA championship of Australasia) a week later, Victoria Derby and then the Melbourne Cup.

In the Australian autumn, the focus is firmly on Sydney. The four-day Randwick carnival features the Australian Derby (Easter Saturday), the Doncaster Handicap (the world's richest mile handicap run on Easter Monday), the AJC Oaks (Wednesday) and concludes with the Sydney Cup on the following Saturday. Each day's card is littered with black-type (pattern) racing and supported by meetings around the nation. For jumps fans, the premier Australian carnival over fences and hurdles takes place at Oakbank, a picturesque venue in the hills outside Adelaide, over the Easter weekend.

To help you find a winner in Australia, try our excellent Australian and NZ Racing Zone with form stats, the Betfair WAP (Weighted Average Price) and live prices comparing the Betfair market with all Australian totes.

And here's a selection of valuable links and resources, all of which are completely independent of Betfair:

Trackdata (analysis and excellent links section)
Sport927 (live audio for racing, harness and dogs)
Virtualformguide (racing news and form - free and premium)
Racenet (racing news and form - free)
Best Bets (form - free and premium)
Expertform (form - free and premium)
Racing And Sports (racing news, results and form)
Racingxtra (racing news and form - free and premium)
Dynamic Race Odds (racing odds comparison - free and premium)
TVN (form and video replays - free and premium)

If the evening racing from Australia suits your body clock better, then harness and greyhound racing will be more appropriate.

Harness.org (harness racing fields and form)
Greyhound Form (greyhound information)