The Werribee Cup will be the season opener when horse racing returns to the Werribee Racecourse this year.
Werribee Racing Club will kick off its 2017-18 calendar with its most popular meet on December 10, followed by a Christmas Eve race day and five other meetings in the first half of 2018.
Racing club general manager Glenn Scott said he was pleased with the dates the club had been assigned.
Mr Scott said the season was pushed back slightly due to a later than usual Spring Racing Carnival, during which time international horses are kept and trained in Werribee. As a result, the Werribee track won’t be up to scratch for racing until December.
“Cup day’s track conditions are of the highest priority,” he said.
“We’ve got three Sundays, two Saturdays, a Friday and a Thursday – they’re good dates for the club. It is a challenge to get people here on weekdays, so we have every opportunity to promote to people who have weekends off to come along.
“We pitched to try and get some more weekend dates, and we achieved that.”
Mr Scott anticipates the club will also pick up an extra race meeting or two, having done so in the past two seasons.
The club cannot hold race meetings between September and mid-November because of quarantine restrictions, with many international horses stabled at the international quarantine centre.
