RWWA Releases Race Dates for 2020/21
Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) has today released its schedule for the 2020/21 racing season, which will see WA racing return to pre-COVID-19 form.
The schedule’s first race meeting, to be run at Belmont Park on 1 August 2020, will mark the return of prizemoney and breeding bonuses to 100% across all three codes of racing. The schedule will also see the reinstatement of community race meetings across the State.
As part of RWWA’s strategic objective to increase the profile and visibility of racing in the South West region, the Bunbury Turf Club has been granted a standalone Saturday card on 6 March 2021 for the running of its two premium races, the Furphy Bunbury Cup and the Amelia Park Bunbury Stakes.
At Ascot, the TABtouch Masters will return with its three consecutive Saturdays of Group 1 million dollar races, with Railway Stakes on 21 November 2020, Winterbottom Stakes on 28 November 2020 and Kingston Town Classic on 5 December 2020.
After being held in February for the last two years, the Albany Cup has been rescheduled to Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021.
The Saturday thoroughbred race meeting on 9 January 2021 will return to Ascot, after being held at Pinjarra Park in recent years. Pinjarra Park will continue to host a standalone Saturday meeting featuring the Magic Millions raceday on 8 February 2020.
The national decision to extend the harness racing season until 31 December 2020 has shifted some of the major feature events for the code, with the major 4YO races traditionally running in November/December, now running in January/February during 2020/21.
The series will start with the Pinjarra 4YO Classic on 4 January 2021, and culminate in the Golden Nugget on 12 February 2021.
WA’s premier open class harness races, the Fremantle Cup and the WA Pacing Cup, have been moved forward to run on 20 November 2020 and 4 December 2020 respectively.
Greyhounds WA Mandurah has been allocated with a new feature race for the upcoming season, with the introduction of the $30,000 Good Friday Cup on 2 April 2021.
WA’s two Group 1 greyhound races, the SKY Racing Perth Cup and the SKY Racing Galaxy Final, will be run on 17 April 2021 at Cannington.
The 12-month racing schedule will see 897 race meetings held across WA’s 51 race clubs during the 2020/21 season, supporting the 24,000 people who are employed or participate in the WA racing industry.
The WA racing industry is responsible for generating more than $821 million each year to the State’s economy.
RWWA Manager Racing Charlotte Mills said she was pleased to see a near fully operational calendar ready for the 2020/21 season.
“I think we can all agree we are fortunate to be in a position to be able to return to our normal racing calendar, as well as reinstate prizemoney and bonuses to their full value pre-COVID-19 within just four months,” Ms Mills said.
“We look forward to the commencement of the new racing season, particularly with the return of community race meetings, which are important highlights in many regional community calendars.”
To view the full 2020/21 racing calendar, click here.