The 2022/23 racing season will feature 70 thoroughbred meetings, 90 harness meetings and 162 greyhound meetings, Tasracing has announced.
Of the 70 thoroughbred meetings scheduled in Tasmania, there are seven meetings on King Island between December and January.
After the outstanding success of the two Friday night meetings at Launceston last season, the Tasmanian Turf Club will once against host meetings in these two slots in October and January.
The Friday night meeting on 21 October will once again coincide with the Manikato Stakes meeting at Moonee Valley, which has resulted in significant wagering figures for the Tasmanian industry over the last two seasons.
Eighteen of the 25 meetings hosted by the Tasmanian Turf Club will be night meetings.
Hobart will see an increase to 21 meetings with the majority of these in the Sunday afternoon timeslot.
The Tasmanian Racing Club will again host the Tasmanian Derby/Hobart Cup meetings over the Regatta Day long weekend.
The Harness code will receive an additional Saturday night Sky1 meeting in 2022/23 to give it five for the season.
All of these meetings will carry feature races with the 3YO Spring Championship (future Derby/Oaks timeslot), Golden Apple, Devonport Cup, Tasmanian Cup, and Easter Cup showcasing the best horses and drivers in the state.
With the closure of the Devonport Showgrounds, the majority of the Harness meetings remain in the North and North-West of the state with Launceston gaining eight, Burnie three and Hobart two of these meetings.
Both Burnie and Carrick have gained extra meetings for the season with Burnie to hold eight and Carrick four meetings.
Overall, harness has gained three meetings to reduce the number of single meeting weekends and provide more opportunities to race.
The transferred greyhound meetings will see Launceston host 27 meetings and Hobart host 26 meetings.
The highlights of the schedule include:
- Two Friday night Sky1 thoroughbred meetings (21 October and 13 January).
- Eighteen thoroughbred night meetings.
- Tasmanian Derby run on Friday 10 February, Hobart Cup run on 12 February and Launceston Cup run on 22 February.
- Five Saturday night Sky1 harness meetings (3YO Spring Championship on 3 September, Golden Apple on 3 December, Devonport Cup on 14 January, Tasmanian Cup on 18 March and Easter Cup on 8 April).
- Group 3 The Chase Final to be run on Thursday 24 November.
- Tasmania’s only Group 1 race, the Hobart Thousand Final will be run on 15 December.
- Group 2 Launceston Cup for greyhounds will be run on Saturday night 4 February.
- Good Friday racing in all three codes (thoroughbreds in Launceston, dual harness and greyhounds in Hobart)