Geelong secures marquee summer race slot

GEELONG Racing club (GRC) will be the centre of Victoria’s racing community for one day next summer and hopes to attract a host of tourists to its track after securing a standalone Saturday meeting for the coming season.

Racing Victoria (RV) today released its program for the 2023/24 season, which saw GRC score the only metropolitan race slot on Saturday, January 6.

RV general manager of racing Matthew Welsh said the meeting would maximise the Geelong region’s influx of tourists during the holiday season, including surrounding towns on the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula.

“Geelong is a superb racetrack that gives every horse its chance and on the back of a most successful 2022 Geelong Cup Day meeting we have great confidence they will deliver an outstanding meeting on January 6,” he said.

The new slot comes after years of advocacy from GRC to earn a standalone Saturday meeting like regional counterparts including Bendigo, Ballarat, Cranbourne and Pakenham.

“As a club we have always held a strong desire to run a metropolitan grade meeting on a Saturday and to now finally achieve this and be the preeminent race meeting on this day is extremely satisfying,” club president Peter Murrihy said.

GRC CEO Luke Rayner said the club was thrilled for the support from Racing Victoria and Country Racing Victoria.

“It is absolutely a great show of faith in our club, our track and our region to be given this chance and it certainly won’t be lost on us as we look to provide an event that caters for all and can catch the hearts and minds of the many tourists that will flock to the region over the summer period,” he said.

“We will absolutely ensure it will be a day of activities and entertainment for all to come and enjoy. Our region has much to celebrate so we hope to bring as much of the region to the track and look to combine our day with other community and sporting groups, along with family fun, children’s entertainment and a great relaxed summer atmosphere created.”

GRC says it will finalise the day’s racing program in the coming weeks, but indicated the day would include at least a black type race, benchmark racing and a community focused race.

Geelong has also retained the traditional spring carnival slot for its marquee event the Geelong Cup, which will be on Wednesday, October 25 this year.

In total, Geelong will have 23 race meetings in the coming season, which runs from August 1 this year until July 31, 2024.