In a major calendar change, Flemington will no longer host its traditional New Year’s Day meeting, instead introducing a twilight race event on December 31 to close out 2025 with a flourish.
This New Year’s Eve program will feature the Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m) and Listed Kensington Stakes (1400m), wrapping up by 7:30pm, perfectly timed for revellers to enjoy the city’s fireworks.
The Victoria Racing Club confirmed that the popular Mornington meeting will now take place on New Year’s Day instead, as part of broader updates to the 2025-26 racing schedule across the state.
“We are excited to introduce a twilight New Year’s Eve format that expands our opportunity to welcome VRC Members, the local community, families, and our regular racing participants to bring in the New Year at spectacular Flemington and make the most of our outstanding facilities,” said VRC CEO Kylie Rogers.
Moonee Valley is also affected by the changes, ceasing racing after the Cox Plate on October 25 to allow for track redevelopments. Cranbourne, Pakenham, Caulfield and Geelong will absorb the relocated meetings.
In total, the 2025-26 Victorian schedule will include 530 race days, comprising 106 metropolitan, 368 country, 17 non-TAB, and 33 picnic meets. Night racing continues with 52 fixtures, but Thursday evenings will end in April as part of Racing Victoria’s field size strategy.
Other notable updates include moving the Pakenham Cup to December 13, enabling tighter spacing for Southside Slot Series races, and shifting the C F Orr Stakes to November 15 to round out a 12-week Group 1 racing stretch starting with the Memsie Stakes.
Caulfield will again feature heavily, hosting races during The Championships in NSW on April 4 and 11, with Bendigo’s Golden Mile moved to May 2 in response.
“We’ve built a schedule of 530 race meetings that best caters for the active racing population and balances our volume of meetings in summer and autumn where field sizes have been under stress,” said Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison.
With such a busy and reshuffled racing calendar, punters are encouraged to explore the best online bookmakers in Australia to get the most competitive odds and latest betting markets.
