THE SUNDAY STORY - CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS. IT'S MORE ABOUT SURVIVAL THAN GLORY

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 2, 2026

The final Trainer and Jockey Premierships for the 2025/26 racing season have been set in stone with due praise being rightfully directed at those who best managed the range of challenges they needed to negotiate to be able to reach the top of the ladder. In real terms though, it is not what it appears to be, a race for pride and glory. It is more like a battle for survival. HRO’s Graham Potter crunches the numbers.

Very little stands still in racing, not least the overall makeup of the jockey ranks in some racing jurisdictions where changes, by choice or circumstance, can rearrange the riding landscape to the point where they can paint a completely different picture from one season to the next.

Take the case of the Brisbane Jockey’s Premiership for example.

There are no less than six new rider’s names in the Brisbane Top Ten for the 2025/26 season compared to that of 2024/25 … and that includes the Premiership winner Ben Thompson.

Only last season’s historic Premiership winner Angela Jones, last season’s runner-up Emily Lang, the third placed Ryan Maloney and the eighth placed Cejay Graham have survived the 2025/26 Premiership ladder cleanout.

Of those, only Maloney had an improved season both in terms of position and number of winners … not only moving from third to second place, but riding 27 more winners this season (74-47), a substantial increase. Maloney also recorded the highest winning strike-rate at 18.5 percent.

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