The 2024/25 racing season will feature 73 thoroughbred meetings, 99 harness meetings and 160 greyhound meetings, Tasracing has confirmed.
Of the 73 thoroughbred meetings scheduled in Tasmania, there are seven meetings scheduled for King Island between November and January.
After the outstanding success of the eight Friday night meetings at Launceston last season, the Tasmanian Turf Club will have an additional five Friday night meetings to host between October and April, taking the total for the season to thirteen.
The Tasmanian Oaks meeting, which is usually run on a Sunday has been given a Friday Night timeslot in February to enhance the coverage of the meeting. Friday Night coverage has resulted in significant wagering and on course increases for the Tasmanian industry over the past three seasons.
Twenty-one of the 26 meetings hosted by the Tasmanian Turf Club will be night meetings.
Hobart saw an increase from 21 to 24 race meetings throughout the previous season and will remain with the same number of meetings for 2024/2025, 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 run five Saturday night Sky1 meetings in 2024/25.
All of these meetings will carry feature races with the running of ‘The Beautide’, the Oaks and Derby, Devonport Cup, Tasmanian Cup and Easter Cup showcasing the best horses and drivers.
The Devonport Cup will be held at the Launceston Pacing Club on Saturday 8 February, slightly later than in previous years due to the fall of the dates in January.
Greyhounds will see an increase of 1 meeting (160) for the 2024-25 season due to the fall of the calendar.
With the National Sprint and Distance Grand Finals scheduled again this year, Launceston will host two Thursday nights on SKY 1 (1 and 8 August 2024). Hobart will host two Monday night meetings (5 and 12 August) to make up for the transferred meetings.
The highlights of the schedule include:
• Thirteen Friday night Sky1 thoroughbred meetings.
• Twenty-one thoroughbred night meetings.
• Tasmanian Derby run on Friday 7 February, Hobart Cup run on 9 February and Launceston Cup run on 26 February.
• Tasmanian Oaks run on Friday 21 February
• Five Saturday night Sky1 harness meetings (The Beautide on 3 August, the Oaks and Derby on 2 November, Devonport Cup on 8 February, the Group 1 Tasmania Cup on 22 March and Easter Cup on 19 April).
• Tasmania’s only Group 1 greyhound race, the Hobart Thousand Final,
will be run on 12 December.
• The Chase Final to be run on Thursday 16 January.
• The Launceston Cup for greyhounds will be run on Monday night 3 February.
• Good Friday racing in all three codes (thoroughbreds in Launceston, dual harness and greyhounds in Hobart).