Ballarat Cup Moved To Sunday
- Thursday, 08 July 2010 07:45
The time-honoured Ballarat Cup has been moved from its traditional Wednesday date and will now be run on a Sunday in November.
The Cup, which officially marks the end of Victoria's spring racing carnival, had commanded a public holiday on the third Wednesday of November but this year will be run on Sunday, November 21.
The date change circumvents the need under new state government guidelines for the Ballarat City Council to vote on its preferred event for public holiday status in the municipality.
Ballarat Turf Club chief executive Shane Brennan said his club was pleased with the change and was committed to working with Ballarat City Council and the local community to ensure the Cup's success.
"The move to a Sunday provides the club with an opportunity to not only welcome continued local support, but further encourage people in metropolitan Melbourne and other sectors of the state, who were not privy to the public holiday, to attend this great event," he said.
Country racing chief executive Scott Whiteman said there many examples where country Cups had successfully transferred to Sunday meetings.
To facilitate the date change, the Benalla meeting originally scheduled for November 21 has been moved to November 16 and the Sale meeting scheduled for November 16 has been moved to the old Ballarat Cup date of November 17.
