AFTER a turbulent run to the home stretch, the bet365 Mildura Cup Carnival is finally set to take place next weekend.
Celebrated across two days, the titular and 100th bet365 Mildura Cup will jump from the gates on Friday, July 19, followed by Food Truck and Family Day on Saturday, July 20.
Mildura Racing Club manager Jamie Lanyon described the club’s history as “checkered” over the past four years in the lead up to the centenary.
The 2020 cup had to be raced in Swan Hill due to COVID, while the 2021 running returned to Mildura, but was unable to host a crowd due to COVID restrictions.
The 2022 cup was back to normal, but the club was forced to postpone last year’s carnival due to flooding that put the track to be underwater for more than eight weeks.
“Normally we would race somewhere else for our cup carnival, but because it was our 100th cup, the club made the decision to postpone the cup completely and make sure that our centenary was celebrated on our home course,” Mr Lanyon said.
To get club back to racing order after last year’s natural disaster, more than $300,000 was spent on track renovations, while nearly $200,000 went towards facility upgrades, including the demolition of a key building.
“We’ve had to unfortunately demolish our main winning post building because it was condemned after the flood,” Mr Lanyon said.
“This year we have got a new exclusive marque on that site, until we build the new building in the next couple of years.”
Mr Lanyon said although the club had received help from Racing Victoria and Country Racing Victoria, the organisation was lucky to have had some savings up their sleeve.
“They always say keep some money in the bank for a rainy day, and we certainly needed that,” he said.
With bookings for the Mildura Cup carnival are already promising, Mr Lanyon said he’s hoping there may be a record crowd at this year’s event.
“Country cups are more about the local people than celebrities and stuff like that,” he said.
“It is more about getting people to the races, so that is what we are aiming for.”
All Mildura Cup tickets and packages can be purchased at country.racing.com/mildura while general admission tickets will also be available at the gate on the day.
