Windfall for turf club ahead of spring racing carnival

This racing season is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet, with an injection of funding into local racing clubs to help stage their events. The state government announced on Thursday more than $668,000 from the Victorian Racing Industry Fund to support 47 regional race day events through spring. This funding will ensure over 130,000 attendees get to enjoy the best the races have to offer. The Wangaratta Turf Club is one such beneficiary, receiving $14,400 for their 2026 Wangaratta Melbourne Cup – In Full Bloom meet on November 3, one of the tentpoles of the local racing and event calendar. Wangaratta Turf Club CEO Emma Merlo said the funding would go right into the local economy. “Whether it’s marquees, flowers, everything that makes the actual race day quite a fun place to be at, this funding actually helps us achieve a really great outcome for the community that comes to the day, but the money is just going straight back into the community because we use local suppliers,” she said. “This is really important for our local economy because this money goes right back into our local businesses, whether it’s Dysons busses, Little Daisy's, everything we put on for the race day. “What it [this type of funding] does do is it means we can give other race days a lift-up as well. “What we’re going to do this year is the family race day in December, it was a really big race day last year and we didn’t get any funding, but we’ve put in for a smaller amount, so we’ve got another $5000 coming in December for water slides and jumping castles and things like that for a day that’s not super busy but we want to build it up. “The funding is there for any sort of event you want to do, as long as it goes into event activation.” Racing contributed more than $5.5 billion to the economy last financial year alone. Almost half of that economic benefit was for regional Victoria, the 2026 Size and Scope of the Victorian Racing Industry report shows. The racing industry provides almost 33,500 full-time equivalent jobs, with 10,500 of those in the regions. “These racing events will bring in thousands of fans from all over the state, putting money straight into the pockets of regional Victorians through local businesses and communities,” minister for racing Anthony Carbines said. The 2026 Wangaratta Melbourne Cup – In Full Bloom will be held at the Wangaratta Turf Club on Tuesday 3 November. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.country.racing.com/wangaratta.

Windfall for turf club ahead of spring racing carnival

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