Crowds flock to the races over holiday period

Attendances at race meetings throughout Victoria over the Christmas holiday period have soared, continuing the trend from a successful Spring Racing Carnival.

Racing Victoria (RV) today announced that crowds across the 20 race meetings from Boxing Day (26 December) to Saturday, 3 January had risen by 30% year-on-year.

Family-friendly entertainment and great racing action has been warmly embraced by locals and visitors in record numbers at race meetings in all corners of the state. 

Punters across the nation have also embraced Victorian racing during the nine-day period with turnover up by more than 6% on the TAB meetings within. 

A notable factor in the success of the period were key programming changes which saw Flemington switched from its traditional New Year’s Day timeslot to New Year’s Eve where it was held as a twilight fixture.

The metropolitan meeting saw its turnover increase by 10% as punters engaged prior to their evening celebrations, while crowd figures skyrocketed by 73% to 13,164, with Young Member attendances rising by over 233%. 
 

Victoria Racing Club CEO, Kylie Rogers, said, "Our first New Year's Eve twilight racing meeting was an outstanding success, and we were thrilled to welcome over 13,000 guests to Flemington. 

“We will continue to focus on creating contemporary racing experiences that appeal to a wide demographic, with the meeting reinforcing the momentum we're seeing across our sport as we head into an exciting 2026."

With Flemington vacating New Year’s Day, Mornington and Burrumbeet shone on the first day of 2026 attracting crowds of 5,877 (up 40%) and 5,989 (up 15%) respectively.

Across the seven meetings over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, crowds were collectively up 30% while turnover rose by 11.5%. 

With the addition of Hanging Rock’s iconic New Year’s Day meeting, which was converted from non-TAB to TAB as part of the programming changes, the turnover increase for the two days rises to 18.5%.

Last Saturday, 3 January was another success story with Geelong’s Super Saturday on the Coast metropolitan meeting proving a huge hit with a crowd of 6,138 – up over 60% - and turnover up more than 9% on 2025. 

On the same day, Woolamai enjoyed over 80% growth with more than 2,000 people enjoying the fourth picnic meeting of the period.

RV Chief Executive, Aaron Morrison, said, “Engagement in Victorian racing continues to grow. After a very successful Spring Racing Carnival, we’ve now seen crowds increase by 30% across the peak holiday period.

“It’s been fantastic to see so many families trackside and our Clubs are to be commended for the array of entertainment they have provided for people of all ages. 

“Taking racing into popular regional areas during the peak holiday period is proving a successful formula and it’s pleasing to also see strong engagement from punters.

“The decision to move Flemington to a twilight meeting on New Year’s Eve was a winner in year one, with significant growth in attendance and wagering. The VRC have created a fantastic platform to build on over coming years.

“The action doesn’t stop though. There’s a great array of meetings throughout the remainder of January, including five country cups, before Group 1 racing returns in February with the start of the Festival of Racing.”

Healesville (17 January), Camperdown (17 January), Yea (24 January), Great Western (24 January) and Hanging Rock (26 January) are scheduled to host their cup meetings this month, while Wangaratta hosts its family day this Sunday, 18 January.

On the metropolitan front, Saturday racing continues at Flemington this weekend before Caulfield hosts a trio of Saturday race meetings leading into the Festival of Racing which kicks off at Flemington with the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) on February 14.