Success lives here

What is Black Type Racing?

Welcome to Black Type Racing, designed to celebrate and acknowledge thoroughbred racing excellence across a number of key industry categories. They include Runners, Trainers, Jockeys, Sires & Dams (with significant additional categories to come), using a points-based championship similar to Formula One Grand Prix and Moto-GP.

At its heart, Black Type Racing encapsulates performance that’s measured, rewarding not only brilliance, but also consistent achievement.

How does it work?

The Black Type Premiership (BTP) covers every single black-type race in Australia (with separate premierships for New Zealand and Hong Kong due to be released shortly). Although we believe a race like The Everest to be deserving of Group 1 status, in order to retain credibility and avoid a multitude of grey areas, the BTP adheres strictly to the black-type status for each included event as set down by the Black-Type or Pattern Race Committee for any given racing year.

The challenge in apportioning a points structure for the Black Type Premiership is that while it needs to be kept simple, it also needs to be equitable. In recognising and championing elite success across six categories – Runners, Trainers, Jockeys, Sires, Dams and Vendors (due to be added shortly) – it has to reward both achievement, in general, and success, in particular. There is a reason why a gold medal is feted, and a silver medal preferred to a bronze medal.

It is our consensus, following discussion with industry participants, that a horse that finishes third in a Group 1 race would likely win a Group 2, and a Group 2 third place-getter would likely win a Group 3 etc. etc.

Although tempting to keep the points structure as simple as a single point difference between each of the first three finishers for different black-type tiers, that fails to truly reward excellence. Assuming the notion above of a Group 1 third equalling a Gr2 winner and so forth, the result is a points structure that separates the first three in each division as follows: the winner rates two points clear of the runner-up, and the runner-up one points clear of the third-placed performer.

The Points structure