Changes to country racing calendar announced

Racing Victoria (RV) has today announced several changes to the country racing calendar throughout May and June owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a reduction in the 2020 Swan Hill Cup Carnival from three days to one.

With racing being conducted in Victoria under strict biosecurity protocols, the decision was made, in consultation with the Swan Hill Jockey Club (SHJC) and Country Racing Victoria (CRV), to consolidate the Carnival into a nine-race program on Sunday, 7 June.

The race meeting, which will be headlined by the $112,500 Bet365 Swan Hill Cup (1600m), retains all the Carnival’s traditional feature races and includes other races which have performed well over the last three years.

The additional changes announced today are as follows:

• The race meeting programmed for Bet365 Mildura on Monday, 11 May has been transferred to Swan Hill to reduce the travel required for participants and officials in light of the protocols in place for the safe continuation of Victorian racing;
• Donald will conduct the replacement meeting on Friday, 5 June with the date vacated as a result of changes to the Swan Hill Cup Carnival; and
• The Apsley Cup will move from Sunday, 7 June to Saturday, 6 June and will also be transferred from Edenhope to Casterton.

RV Executive General Manager – Racing, Greg Carpenter, said: “Changes to the Swan Hill Cup Carnival were made in order to provide a program that minimises risks to racing participants, officials and the local community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Following consultation with the Club and Country Racing Victoria, it was determined that a consolidated one-day program would be the best format for the meeting to proceed given the strict biosecurity protocols currently in place for the safe continuation of Victorian racing.

“The changes announced also give consideration to the fact that members, the general public and owners cannot attend race meetings at present and we know that a large part of the success of the Swan Hill Carnival is built on community engagement and tourism which would not have been the case this year.

“I would like to thank the SHJC and CRV for their support and understanding in achieving this outcome and I look forward to watching the revamped Swan Hill Cup meeting, which will be a great day of country racing on Sunday, 7 June.”

SHJC CEO, Aaron Garvie, said: “It is not ideal that our three-day Carnival has been consolidated to one day in 2020, however, due to the current restrictions in place it is the correct decision in these times.

“The SHJC has worked closely with RV and CRV, and to have all feature races on the one day in 2020 is the best possible result under the current biosecurity measures.

“We will now focus our attention on the Cup meeting on Sunday, 7 June while also looking ahead to 2021 when we return to our traditional three-day format.”

The consolidated program for Swan Hill Cup Day on Sunday, 7 June is as follows:

The distance changes as a result of the transferred meeting to Swan Hill on Monday, 11 May are as follows:

The race program for the replacement meeting at Donald on Friday, 5 June is as follows:

The updated race program for the transferred Apsley Cup meeting at Casterton on Saturday, 6 June is as follows: