Dear Fellow Racing Enthusiasts,
Today we launched a new site called Australian Race Records. (www.australianracingrecords.com)
Daily Telegraph Racing Editor Ray Thomas and I have been working on the concept for some time.
The aim of the site is twofold. First we hope to be able to document and recognise past and present deeds of all those involved in the Racing Industry while much of it is still available in some form or another and not lost forever.
Second, the site will form a valuable reference resource for media and all involved in this wonderful sport of ours.
Hopefully it will stimulate debate and interest in Thoroughbred racing.
Also on an continual basis we would like to document signifcant events which happen in racing eg Makybe Diva's historic Melbourne Cup win, as we have started to do for 2004 under the menu bar "History 2004".
Obviously this is a big task and a lot of history making/unique events happen right across the racing spectrum, some of which don't make it into "mainstream" news.
I am seeking the support of everyone to work with us on this project and if you have something worthy of making the History files just email it to me.
Obviously what we have set out to do is a big task, and will be "work in progress" for a long time.
However we are gaining the support of several "key" industry players such as the Bloodhorse Review and Australasian Turf Monthly and I look forward to the Australian Racing Museum and Hall Of Fame also becoming involved.
For me, I see the collation and preservation of this vital information as a cause which transcends all boundaries in the Racing Industry. At the end of the day racing will be the winner.
Below I have reproduced Ray Thomas' article in todays Daily Telegraph which explains where we are coming from with this project.
I invite you all to participate with us in this important project.
Regards
Gary Crispe






BY RAY THOMAS

WAS Phar Lap superior to Tulloch? Could Bernborough beat Kingston Town? Is Wakeful a better racemare than Sunline?
If you want to start a debate, try comparing champions of different eras _ in any sport for that matter. After all, everyone has an opinion.

Granted it is extremely difficult to rank the greats, particularly when some racehorses competed more than 100 years ago, but the record books don't lie.

The problem in Australian racing is that the availability of detailed statistical analysis of our champions from the past is largely confined to fading memories, a few historical racing books and some increasingly scarce racing footage.

In other sports, access to records and statistical analysis is literally at your fingertips via the internet.
Earlier this week, Indian Test cricketer Sachin Tendulkar scored a world record-equalling 34th Test century against Bangladesh.

For any cricket enthusiast, it was easy to log on and surf the various websites to find out how Tendulkar's career record compares with other champions like Australia's legendary Sir Donald Bradman.

Most sports treat their tradition and heritage with reverence but sadly, racing doesn't.
Admittedly, the Australian racing industry is slowly getting its act together with the formation of the Hall of Fame and Racing Museum in recent years.

There are even plans afoot in Victoria to purchase a property near Melbourne where retired champion racehorses can spend the rest of their days in a fitting environment, providing racing fans the opportunity to visit their former equine heroes and heroines.

These are steps in the right direction but there is very little being done to compile and maintain accurate records of Australian racing's greats.

Other sports do it, why not racing? It seems the often fractured race club and interstate political climate has prevented this concept ever getting off the ground previously.

Australian Racing Museum's Paul Brettell said the time has come for the racing industry to adopt a co-ordinated approach to ensure the memories and racetracks deeds of our past champions are never forgotten.

``You can't plan for the future if you haven't taken care of the past,'' Brettell said.
``Racing has never been very good at record keeping and I believe it is absolutely critical that the collective racing industry binds together on issues like this.

``There should be a national information resource centre for all racing enthusiasts to access.''
At the moment, the only record-keeping is done by a few journalists and some race club officials. The general public certainly can't access this information easily like they can for other sports.

Like comparing the records of batsmen in Test cricket, a measure the racing industry could use is an analysis of Group One wins.

Gary Crispe, form guru and founder of Racing And Sports, took the very welcome step recently of adding a link to his popular website which outlines a complete list of the leading Group One winners in Australian racing.

Crispe's tables include a list of our leading Group One horses, plus the all-time leading trainers and jockeys and are dedicated to the memory of the late Warwick Hobson, formerly of Turf Monthly, who kept the most accurate records of Australian racing.

Hobson is credited with determining the trainers list which has Tommy Smith on a world record 282 Group One wins ahead of Bart Cummings (245) and Lee Freedman (102). Among our jockeys, George Moore's 119 is the bench mark from Roy Higgins (108) and Shane Dye (90).

At least Hobson was able to accurately detail the trainers and jockeys but what of our racehorses?
Hall of Famer Kingston Town is generally accepted as the equine leader with 14 Group One wins from Sunline and Tie The Knot on 13, with Manikato, Rough Habit and Lonhro on 11, but these statistics only reflect performances since the race classification system was introduced in 1978/79.

So, is it possible to compare the records of today's champions with the greats of yesteryear?
Noted turf historian Peter Tonkes, from the excellent Bloodhorse Review, has already done much of the leg work for racing authorities with an excellent series of articles in the magazine some three years ago.

Tonkes produced a complete analysis of the Group One records of all Australian racing's great champions and his results made for very interesting reading.

The task to update the Group One records of all Australian racing's greats seems monumental but Tonkes went about by first allocating retrospective Group One wins to a horse's career.

Many races have been upgraded to Group One since 1978/79 and Tonkes decided to afford previous winners of the race retrospective big-race wins.

This resulted in a re-work of the Group One list with Manikato suddenly vaulting to the top with 21 ``majors''.
Manikato's official Group One score 11 but the retrospective tally adds his five wins in the William Reid Stakes (now Australia) Stakes, three Orr Stakes triumphs and two Freeway (now Manikato) Stakes. This trio of events were only classified as Group Two when Manikato was racing.

Tonkes was also able to include the greats of past eras under this system with Tulloch immediately behind Manikato with 19 majors, followed by Ajax (17), Wenona Girl (15) and Kingston Town and Sky High (14).

But even this system is unfair as many important races won by our past greats are no longer on the turf calender.
Tonkes got around this problem with a detailed analysis of races he described as the ``missing Group One'' events.
These included races like the Randwick Plate, AJC Plate, VRC Champion Stakes, Cumberland Stakes, VRC All-Aged Stakes and Lloyd Stakes which once were among the nation's best races and clearly would have been regarded as a Group One by today's standards.

Thus Tonkes' overall Group One list is radically changed again and due credit is given to all-time greats like Phar Lap and Tulloch.

Phar Lap is generally regarded as the nation's best ever racehorse but his record is often criticised because by modern standards, he ``only'' won 10 Group One races.

However, when Phar Lap's career is updated retrospectively and then with the inclusion of now-defunct races, suddenly, by Tonkes analysis, the legendary champion tops the overall Group One poll with 27 wins.

Added to Phar Lap's unofficial Group One-winning record are races like the Craven Plate, Cumberland Stakes, Fisher Plate, Randwick Plate, Spring Stakes, King's Plate among others.

Joining Phar Lap on the summit of this list is Tulloch with Carbine next on 25. It is no surprise that this trio were among the first five horses inducted into the Hall of fame.

Under this criteria, the only modern-day galloper still among the leading group is Manikato (21).
The champions of today may not have the big-race records as the former greats but generally, horses of the modern era don't race as often and it can be argued the competition on the racetrack these days is much keener.

At least through the contributions of Hobson, Crispe and Tonkes, the racing industry has an opportunity to finally provide the sport's champions with due recognition.

The challenge is there for the sport's administrators to ensure to ensure their works are perpetuated and provide a base for the introduction of a national racing resource centre. When you think about it, this should be a matter of record, anyway.