Premium venues to benefit as RV reshapes country racing calendar 

Racing Victoria will introduce a new track-based classification system for country TAB meetings as part of a shake-up that will deliver more than $1 million in additional prize money across the 2026-27 season.

The changes follow the release of the 2026-27 Victorian racing calendar, which increased Friday afternoon meetings by 37 per cent at six key country wagering venues.

There will also be an expanded Wednesday and Thursday twilight racing to grow wagering, attendance and broadcast audiences.

Under the new model, country meetings will be classified as either premium or standard based on the venue rather than the race timeslot, determining the minimum prize money available at each meeting.

Ballarat Turf, Bendigo, Geelong, Sale, Seymour and Warrnambool have been designated premium country tracks, with all of their meetings outside Saturday country fixtures to carry higher minimum prize money levels.

RV says the six venues are central to a revised race-programming strategy and will host half of the Friday-afternoon meetings scheduled for the 2026-27 season.

Other country racetracks will stage standard meetings, although Cup meetings and selected feature race days will continue to attract existing prize money premiums.

Southside Racing’s Cranbourne and Pakenham will retain their premium rating due to their established night racing programs, while meetings at the Pakenham Synthetic and Ballarat Synthetic tracks will be classified as standard.

The revised structure will create an additional 14 premium country meetings, resulting in more than $850,000 in extra prize money being distributed across the state.

RV will also provide an additional $3000 per race for Thursday twilight meetings conducted at standard venues between October 2026 and January 2027, adding more than $165,000 to the prize money pool.

Combined with the expanded premium meeting schedule, the changes will lift the total increase in country prizemoney beyond $1 million.

The governing body will also trial nine-race cards at 23 Friday afternoon premium meetings in a bid to capitalise on additional customer engagement in the timeslot.

The extra race will carry $27,000 in prize money, with seven-race Tuesday programs scheduled during those weeks to accommodate the expanded Friday cards.

Racing Victoria head of racing Paul Bloodworth says the revised classification model aligns with the organisation’s broader strategy of placing meetings in time slots that generate stronger commercial returns.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

The announcement comes after the prize money for the Caulfield Cup was recently boosted to $6 million. Racing Victoria has not ruled out further prize money increases in other areas in the upcoming season.