Eighty percent of all international horse races are contested in 10% of the countries, according to statistics released Monday by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.The IFHA, which consists of racing authorities in more than 50 countries, found that the 107,961 races run in the U. S. in 2003 represented 30.99% of the world-wide total, followed by the 37,095 races, 10.65% of the total, for Australia.The 2003 racing statistics are included on a Web site set up by IFHA in conjunction with The Jockey Club Information Systems, to disseminate and analyze racing and breeding statistics from its member countries.Based on the IFHA data, here are some highlights of international racing and breeding statistics: -- Around 348,500 races (flat, trotting and jump) were run throughout the world in 2003; this figure is quite similar to the one of 2002, as the difference is only - 0.2 %. -- A little bit more than three-quarters of all races worldwide have been organized in 10 countries. -- The number of flat races run in 2003 is similar to that for 2002, with decreases in Japan (- 5.0 %), in Brazil (- 3.2 %), and in Australia (- 2 %), counterbalanced by increases in Chile (+4.6 %), Great Britain (+ 4.1 %) and in France (+ 2 %). -- The leading country organizing flat racing is the U. S. with around 30 % of the whole number of flat races in the world, far ahead of Japan (11.88 %) and Australia (11.57 %). -- Three South-American countries are ranked fourth, fifth and eighth out of 10 : Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Canada (6th) is ahead of three European countries Italy (7th), Great Britain (9th) and France (10th). -- In 2003, the number of Thoroughbred foals amounted to around 114,000, compared with 117,000 births in 2001, and a little less than 116,000 in 2002. -- Among the biggest Thoroughbred breeding countries, important decreases compared to 2002 are noticed in South Africa (- 19.5 %), Australia (- 15 %), Venezuela (- 8 %), Germany (- 7.31 %), Canada (- 6.7 %), New Zealand (- 6 %), Brazil (- 5.5 %) and Japan
(- 2.3 %). -- However, significant increases of births have been recorded in Turkey (+ 20.7 %), U. S. (+ 5.5 %), Great Britain (+ 5.3 %), Ireland (+ 3.5 %) and Argentina (+ 3.2 %). -- The U. S. (34,025 births) is still the main Thoroughbred breeding country with around 30 % of the world crop, followed by Australia (15,300) of which the share is decreasing from 15.6 % in 2002 to 13.44 % in 2003; Ireland's share is growing on the Thoroughbred market with 8.08 % in 2001, 8.82 % in 2002 and 9.29 % in 2003. Argentina is the fifth country with 5.83 % of the world crop, followed by Great Britain
(4.77 %), New Zealand (4.17 %), France (3.87 %), Brazil (2.84 %) and South Africa (2.19 %).More Information from International Federation of Horseracing Authorities Web site