Racing Queensland’s inaugural Spring Carnival will include seven weeks of feature racing headlined by the Weetwood Handicap and the Queensland Cup.
Earlier today, RQ unveiled the newest addition to its racing calendar, which will be staged from August 29 to October 10.
As flagged last year, the Weetwood Handicap and the Toowoomba Cup will shift from their traditional autumn timeslots to September 26 in order to coincide with the city’s Carnival of Flowers festival.
The showpiece Spring Carnival day will also feature the Pat O'Shea Plate and the Toowoomba Guineas.
“The Carnival of Flowers is one of Queensland’s great events and it is fantastic to see feature racing coinciding with it on the Darling Downs as part of a Spring Carnival,” Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.
“With an abridged winter due to COVID-19, it’s great to see further opportunities for Queensland participants extending into spring ahead of the major features in the southern states.”
The Brisbane Racing Club, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast will all stage meetings throughout the Spring Carnival which commences at Eagle Farm before culminating at Doomben with the running of the Queensland Cup.
Additional features include the Listed Brisbane Handicap and the $125,000 Gold Coast Pink Ribbon Cup.
Now in its 13th year, the Pink Ribbon Cup has become Australia’s largest official community fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
“A Spring Carnival is an exciting addition to our racing calendar,” RQ CEO Brendan Parnell said.
“We’ve managed to programme seven weeks of feature racing headlined by the Weetwood before building to an exciting crescendo with the Queensland Cup.
“We look forward to growing this concept into becoming a real highlight on the Queensland racing calendar.”
Click here to see the 2020 Queensland Spring Carnival.