Cover image courtesy of Country Racing Victoria
Country racing in Victoria is set to receive a $1 million boost in prize money in the 2026/27 season, thanks to Racing Victoria changing the way they classify TAB country races. Bendigo, Geelong, Sale, Seymour, Warrnambool, and Ballarat’s turf track have received a premium classification that guarantees elevated prize money at every meeting.
Premium racing recognised
Racing Victoria announced at the end of the week that they will classify country race meetings in the next racing season as either ‘premium’ or ‘standard’, which will decide minimum prize money levels at racedays. The move follows on from the strategic changes to the racing calendar announced in May, which has led to a 37% increase in the number of Friday afternoon meetings scheduled at the aforementioned six country tracks as well as increases in night meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
The classification of a meeting as premium or standard will in turn rely on the meeting’s location, as opposed to time slot, with the exception of country cup feature meetings.
“In building our schedule for next season, we allocated meetings where customers want them to grow wagering, attendance, and viewership,” said Racing Victoria’s Head of Racing Paul Bloodworth.
Paul Bloodworth | Image courtesy of Paul Bloodworth
“The classification of meetings is the next step in our process. 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.”
"Allocating premium country meetings to premium country tracks supports the enhancements we’ve made to the schedule." - Paul Bloodworth
Half of the Friday afternoon meets scheduled for 2026/27 will be held at the aforementioned six tracks, which will lead to an additional 14 premium country race meetings over the season. Southside Racing’s Cranbourne and Pakenham turf will be classified as premium for night meetings, while Pakenham’s synthetic track will remain classified as standard, as will Ballarat’s synthetic.
“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,” Bloodworth said.
More racing, more chances to earn
The addition of premium classification will lead to an increase of $850,000 being available across the racing season at country tracks. In addition, Thursday twilight meetings will receive a boost of $3000 to the prize pool of each race, which will equate to an additional $165,000 on offer across the season.
Racing Victoria has announced a 23-meeting trial across the season where they will hold a nine-race card on a Friday afternoon at premium venues. The ninth race on the card will be worth $27,000.
As a result of the changes, maiden prizemoney at standard daytime country race meetings will lift to $32,000, with the possibility of a prize pool of $42,500 if the meeting is held at a premium track in the daytime. By comparison, the maiden events at Ballarat's synthetic track on Friday afternoon carried a purse of $20,000.
Country races at night meetings will carry minimum prize money of $40,000 across the card, with $45,000 allocated for maidens.
| Maidens | $45,000 | $42,500 | $35,000 | $32,000 |
| BM70 & above | $40,000 | $40,000 | $30,000 | $27,000 |
| BM66 & 0-66 | $40,000 | $35,000 | $30,000 | $27,000 |
| BM62 & 0-62 | $40,000 | $35,000 | $30,000 | $27,000 |
| BM56 & 0-56 | $40,000 | $27,000 | $25,000 | $22,000 |
| BM52 & 0-52 | N/A | N/A | $23,000 | $20,000 |
Table: Racing Victoria's country minimum prize money levels in the 2026/27 season
