Happy Horses' Birthday from everyone at team RISA!

Thoroughbreds are deemed to have the same birthday so their ages can be standardised - August 1 for the southern hemisphere and January 1 for the northern, but perhaps you are not aware of some of the many activities undertaken by RISA to prepare for this auspicious day. In fact, preparation by RISA for the horses’ birthday takes quite a bit of meticulous planning, especially from our IT team which last night completed the annual birthday update for all thoroughbreds held in the official national industry database. In total 531,970 horses rolled forward a year so that for example a 2YO on 31 July became a 3YO from 1 August. For our Registration team August 1 is the day of the year horse name restrictions expire. Restrictions exist for multiple reasons. These include precluding a horses’ name being repeated for 17 years after the birth of a horse with the exact same name; or for 20 years after the  birth of the youngest named progeny of a horse with the same name. Other restrictions include 99 Year, 75 Year and 50 Year restrictions which are applied for the winners of significant races. Where more than one application is received prior to August 1 for a name which becomes available the Registrar conducts a ballot under the supervision of Stewards. This year the Registrar received applications for 142 names which became available on August 1. Names included: OUTLAW and MAGGIE MAY x 3 Applications SNOW WHITE and HERCULES x 2 Applications A selection of the other popular names that were requested prior to the 1st of August were DOMINATE, JAVA, HEAVEN, CIRCE and AVANTI. In total, 15,651 names had registrations expire on August 1.

Race Results – The Devil’s in the Detail!

The task of aggregating, publishing and disseminating race results is one that is pivotal to RISA and our customers and involves a truly collaborative process between RISA, race clubs and principal racing authorities.

The timely delivery of accurate Race Results permits publication and dissemination on risa.com, to our stakeholders, race clubs corporate clients and media just to name a handful.

RISA is responsible for ensuring that results are delivered to RISA in a timely and accurate manner. In fact, we are obliged to publish these results within 30 minutes of correct weight for TAB race meetings and 40 minutes of correct weight for NON-TAB race meetings. To achieve this we work closely with the race clubs and principal racing authorities to ensure punctuality.

Communication challenges including internet connectivity and tyranny of distance are just a couple of the issues we confront every day in this process, but the domino effect of any delays/omissions in receiving results in a timely manner can be far reaching.

These include:

• Prize money/Bonuses unable to be paid out to the winning connections, trainers and jockeys


• Owners/Trainers unable to follow their horses performance


• Handicappers unable to grade horses promptly for their next start


• Apprentice Jockey claims being re-calculated for them to ride at the correct weight for their next meeting


• Punters looking at the beaten margins and times for runners outside the place getters


• Transparency of racing information to the racing industry, stake holders and participants

So, please excuse us whenever we make contact to expedite delivery....it’s all part of our absolute commitment to deliver the most accurate, timely and relevant information all day, every day!

About RISA

Racing Information Services Australia Pty Ltd (RISA). Read more...

Products & Services

- RISA Stable Assist
- RISA Connect
- RISA Form
- RISA Materials
- RISA Publishing
- RISA Services Centre
- RISA Technology
- RISA Research
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- Registrar of Racehorses
- RISA Pedigree

Contact RISA

Racing Information Services Australia (RISA)
Level 1, Racing Centre
400 Epsom Road
Flemington VIC 3031

Registrar of Racehorses
(A division of RISA)
Level 6
51 Druitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Email: customerservice@risa.com.au

Web: www.risa.com.au
ACN 105 994 330