A basic country race in Victoria is usually worth a minimum of $5,000.

If your horse is fast enough to contest metropolitan races at Moonee Valley, the basic stake that it will be racing for at Moonee Valley will $15,001.

Of course there are also a number of feature races that are conducted in Victoria every year.

Some of the major feature races conducted in Victoria in 2008/09 include:     

• $750,000 Inter Dominion Pacing Championship

• $400,000 Hunter Cup

• $375,000 SEW Eurodrive Victoria Cup

• $250,000 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship

• $301,000 Australasian Breeders Crown 2YO Finals

• $150,000 Alabar Victoria Derby Final

Click here for a detailed list of Feature Races conducted in Victoria during 2008/09.

For most races conducted in Victoria, stakemoney is distributed between the connections of horses that finish between first and fifth in a particular race. This means that 40 horses on average will earn stakemoney for their connections at each race meeting. Stakemoney for most races is distributed as follows:

1st – 67.5%
2nd – 15.0%
3rd – 10.0%
4th – 5.0%
5th – 2.5%

Of the stakemoney amounts that are won by a horse, the owner will usually receive 87.5%, with the trainer receiving 7.5% and the driver 5.0%.

Eligible Vicbred horses can also race for lucrative bonuses in Victoria, with yearlings to be sold at the 2009 sales to race for a $5000 bonus when they win their first race in Victoria as a two, three or four-year-old.

There are also other potential revenue streams available from your horses. If a horse that you buy improves, he or she becomes more valuable and that means the possibility of selling at a profit!  Or if you decide to breed from mares that you race and then raise their progeny, there is the possibility of turning a profit when you sell their yearlings at the yearling sales.