Race Dates lead to change in classification of country meetings to foster growth

Racing Victoria (RV) has announced changes to the way in which it will classify country TAB meetings as a follow-on from strategic changes detailed in May as part of the 2026-27 Victorian Race Dates.

To broaden customer engagement and maximise industry returns, the 2026-27 Victorian Race Dates included a 37 per cent increase in Friday afternoon meetings scheduled at six key country wagering venues, along with an expansion of Wednesday and Thursday twilight racing.

To support this strategy, the classification of country meetings as either ‘premium’ or ‘standard’, which decides the minimum prizemoney levels afforded, will be determined from 1 August 2026 by track first rather than timeslot.

Ballarat Turf, Bendigo, Geelong, Sale, Seymour and Warrnambool have been classified as country premium tracks that will feature higher prizemoney minimums at all meetings excluding any Saturday country fixtures. That sextet host half of the Friday afternoon meetings scheduled for 2026-27.

Other venues will be allocated country standard meetings with the exclusion of their Cup and selected feature meetings which retain current prizemoney premiums.

Southside Racing’s Cranbourne and Pakenham, the state’s only two active night racing venues, remain classified as premium except for Pakenham Synthetic which will be allocated country standard meetings along with Ballarat Synthetic.

The net change in classifications will see an additional 14 country premium meetings, representing an increase of over $850,000 in prizemoney, conducted across Victoria in the 2026-27 season.

With Thursday twilight meetings programmed across a mixture of venues from October 2026 to January 2027, any standard country meetings in the timeslot will have an additional $3,000 per race added. This represents a further uplift in prizemoney of more than $165,000 bringing the collective boost to country prizemoney in 2026-27 above $1 million.

To foster engagement on Friday afternoons, a trial of nine-race cards across 23 country premium meetings in that timeslot will also occur in the 2026-27 season. The ninth race will be conducted for $27,000 and will see seven races programmed on the Tuesday of that week to facilitate the trial.

Quotes attributable to RV Head of Racing, Paul Bloodworth

“In building our schedule for next season we allocated meetings where customers want them to grow wagering, attendance and viewership. The classification of meetings is the next step in our process.

“Allocating premium country meetings to premium country tracks supports the enhancements we’ve made to the schedule which will ultimately see more racing later in the day and later in the week.

“Our focus now turns to the programming of races at these meetings to best align with the available horse population and to maximise field sizes which will be an ongoing process throughout the year.”

2026-27 Country TAB Minimum Prizemoney Levels

Following are the country TAB minimum prizemoney levels excluding targeted initiatives: