In 'Day at the Races', does each character have an equal chance of winning?

Question

In Mario Party 2, there is an infamous luck-based minigame known as Day at the Races. Each player picks between one of four characters to race, each with their own unique abilities.

• Whomp – Walks fast but falls over and takes a long time to get up.
• Thwomp – Rises above the floor and jumps forward but then drops down and takes a long time to get up.
• Boo – Disappears and then reappears a lot further than before, but faceplants on the ground sometimes.
• Bob-omb – Starts a spark running from its fuse and moves very fast but occasionally falls over.

As a kid it seemed like some racers would win more often than others. (aka: I always picked Boo). However, I don't know whether this was actually true or not.

Does each character have an equal chance of winning? Or are some racers better than others?

Answer 1

Short Version: No. Some racers have a better chance of winning.

1. Boo (fastest)
2. Whomp
3. Bob-Omb
4. Thwomp (slowest)

---

Long Version:

According to an analysis of 12,557 races by TAS Speedrunner KirkQ, the odds of each racer winning will very based on their starting animations.

To summarize, each racer can have one of three possible starting animations prior to choosing them. These are referred to as Fast, Normal, and Slow respectively.

Racer Starting Animations

Fast Boo: Flashing twice a second.
Normal Boo: Flashing once per two seconds.
Slow Boo: Not flashing, looking down.

Fast Whomp: Wobbling side to side.
Normal Whomp: Standing straight up.
Slow Whomp: Hunched over slightly.

Fast Bob-Omb: Bright fuse lit.
Normal Bob-Omb: Average fuse lit.
Slow Bob-Omb: No fuse lit.

Fast Thwomp: Rising and pounding quickly.
Normal Thwomp: Rising and pounding slowly.
Slow Thwomp: Sitting on the ground.

After 12,557 races, here were the first place odds for each racer based on animation.

First place odds

Fast Boo: 46.4%
Normal Boo: 35.9%
Fast Whomp: 33.5%
Fast Bob-Omb: 28.9%
Slow Boo: 27.3%
Normal Whomp: 25.9%
Slow Whomp: 24.6%
Normal Bob-Omb: 22.7%
Slow Bob-Omb: 19.8%
Slow Thwomp: 14.3%
Fast Thwomp: 13.0%
Normal Thwomp: 11.7%

In most scenarios, Boo was the fastest if he had Fast or Normal animations, while Thwomp was generally the worst pick regardless of his starting animation.

Answer 2

Here is a test someone called "Eric43" did on the GameFAQs Boards on this thread.

Whomp
1st: 21
2nd: 32
3rd: 27
4th: 20

Thwomp
1st: 13
2nd: 23
3rd: 23
4th: 41

Boo
1st: 37
2nd: 22
3rd: 21
4th: 20

Bob-omb
1st: 29
2nd: 23
3rd: 29
4th: 19

Chance for each to win:
Whomp: 21%
Thwomp: 13%
Boo: 37%
Bob-omb: 29%

From what I can tell, it's probably not a 25% chance for each in the game's code. If it were, we should see a more equal split of win percentages. Following statistics, it would be most probable for Boo to win.