The Australian Racing Board has released the results of an independent study that shows the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry injects a total of approximately $4-billion ($7.7-billion Australian) in direct and indirect income into the country's economy.The study also showed that more than 240,000 people are employed in the industry, the majority in regional areas where genuine employment opportunities are scarce.

Racing is also the second most popular sport in Australia, with 1.7-million people attending a race meeting at least once last year, second only to Australian Rules Football.

A total of about 22,000 races are conducted each year with an average of 60 races per day in the country.

Australia also has 31,637 registered racehorses who during the 2000/2001 season competed for $161.6-million ($311.3-million Australian) in purse money, the third highest in the world.

R. L. "Bob" Charley, chairman of the Australian Racing Board, said that when the first race meeting in Australia was held at Hyde Park in Sydney in 1810, nobody dreamed of the social and economic impact it would have on a country then unnamed.

"Since then the country has survived two world wars, two savage economic depressions, periods of heavy taxation, and even more recently, heavy competition," Charley said. "Two centuries is a very long time for anything to be sustained successfully but as this report conclusively shows, Australian Racing in 2001 is a vibrant force in both the economic and social life of this great country."—Delamere Usher