The Werribee Cup will be the season opener when horse racing returns to Werribee Racecourse later this year.
Werribee Racing Club will kick-off its 2018-19 calendar with its most popular meeting on December 9, with more than 6000 people expected to attend.
This will be followed by a Christmas Eve race day and five other meetings in the first half of 2019, culminating with a Community Clubs meeting on April 26.
Club general manager Ashley Baker said the club was keen to retain its regular race-day themes such as Kids’ Day Out, Ladies Day, the Summer of Racing and Autumn Race Day.
“It’s about getting some consistency in the racing calendar,” he said.
Mr Baker said road works along Bulban Road, which limited access to the racecourse main entrance for the bulk of the 2017-18 season, would be complete by the end of August, meaning the Bulban Road entrance would be fully operational for season 2018-19.
He is encouraging racing enthusiasts to attend this year’s Spring Racing Carnival International Breakfast on November 1. Fans will rub shoulders with the carnival’s leading local and international trainers just days before the Melbourne Cup.
Werribee Racing Club cannot hold race meetings between September and mid-November because of quarantine restrictions, with many international horses stabled at the international quarantine centre for the Spring Racing Carnival.
Last year, the club’s Vintage Crop Stables housed the Melbourne Cup’s first three horses – winner Rekindling, second-placed Johannes Vermeer and third-placed Max Dynamite.
