MEDIA RELEASE 26 OCTOBER
Our Region. Our Town. Our Race. The Hunter.
Newcastle Racecourse are delighted to host the fourth running of The Hunter Race Day featuring the $1 million ‘The Hunter’ on Saturday, November 12th, 2022. The $1M race headlines an exciting ten-race metropolitan standalone meeting at Newcastle Racecourse with total prizemoney close to $2.5 million.
The Hunter, a 1300 metre race for top class sprinters is quickly becoming a race of the highest quality with last year’s winner being the John O’Shea trained Lost And Running who is a multiple Group winner and considered one of the nation’s best sprinters.
Duane Dowell, NJC Chief Executive, said The Hunter Race Day will provide another welcome boost to the region and enabled the club to showcase what’s great about Newcastle and Hunter Valley.
The comprehensive Hunter Race Day marketing campaign that kicked off on October 16th highlights the excitement surrounding the race day but also encapsulates the beauty within the greater Hunter region.
“While we expect a big response from locals, we are also promoting the day as a destination weekend.”
“Newcastle and the Hunter has so much to offer visitors and we hope this event provides widespread benefit to The Hunter economy, especially the hospitality sector who have suffered greatly over the past couple of years due to Covid.”
The day will be filled with music, soloists, live bands and DJ’s throughout the course providing an exciting atmosphere. The renowned Charlestown Square Fashions On The Field returns for The Hunter Race Day. FOTF is the perfect opportunity to celebrate and showcase racing fashion within the Hunter Region. With the overwhelming success of the Charlestown Square FOTF at Ladies Day earlier in the year, Newcastle Racecourse anticipate a high calibre of entrants. We have an exciting line up of judges and MC to be announced in the coming days.
The celebrations don’t stop after the last with multi-platinum musician, Running Touch performing a DJ Set at the Official Afterparty at Newcastle Racecourse in the Courtyard Lawn.
Running Touch is a multi-dimensional Melbourne musician constantly pushing the boundaries of his work, showcasing an artistic vision that since its debut, has evolved to become one of Australia’s most intricately detailed – and successful. Since making his entrance, Running Touch’s music has been streamed 150+ million times, earning multi-platinum accreditations, an APRA Award nomination, and consistent playlisting on commercial radio and streaming services. Additionally, he has performed shows at institutional venues throughout Australia and the US, supported electronic pioneers including ODESZA and ZHU, played festivals such as Splendour In The Grass, and in the face of the pandemic, played a first-of-its-kind sold-out live show at Melbourne’s iconic Sidney Myer Music Bowl – with plenty more to come.
The Hunter will be supported by several feature races on the program including the Group 3 New Zealand Bloodstock Spring Stakes for three-year-olds over 1600m, The $300,000 NZB Insurance Beauford for the stayers over 2300m and the NZB Max Lees Classic for two-year-olds over 900 meters won last year by Russian Conquest who then went on to finish 2nd in the Magic Millions 2yo Classic.
New Zealand Bloodstock and its partners will sponsor 8 of the 10 race program with another race, The Alf Kneebone Trans-Tasman Trophy, lining New Zealand trainers up against their Australian counterparts for bragging rights over 1850m. Last year, the race was taken out by the Chris Waller trained Mightydeel meaning New Zealand are one up on the Aussies!
In a lovely gesture by Mike Kneebone and the team at New Zealand Bloodstock, one of the races on the day will be named after Newcastle golfing legend Jack Newton, who sadly passed away earlier in the year.
The current ticket sales indicate that thousands of Novacastrians are similarly keen for the day.
Dowell adds “We want Novocastrians and Hunter people to embrace this as their race day with much of our marketing around that notion.”
“Our Region, Our Town, Our Race…. The Hunter.”
Tickets available: https://www.newcastleracecourse.com.au/events/the-hunter-race-day/
Shuttle buses:
Hamilton Railway Station to Newcastle Racecourse: 11.05am, 11.35am, 12.05pm, 12.35pm, 1.05pm 1.35pm.
Newcastle Jockey Club to Hamilton Station only: 5.15pm, 5.45pm, 6.15pm, 6.45pm, 7.15pm, 7.45pm.
Fashions On The Field Registration: https://www.newcastleracecourse.com.au/fashions-on-the-field-the-hunter-race-day/
Upcoming Race Days:
- Saturday 29th October: Maitland Rugby Club Derby Day
- Saturday 12th November: The Hunter Race Day
- Tuesday 22nd November: Wine Country Racing at Newcastle
- Sunday 27th November: O’Neill’s Tyres Maitland Legends and Community Race Day
- Saturday 3rd December: Westpac Rescue Helicopter Race Day
- Saturday 17th December: Tozer Air Christmas
- Monday 26th December: Boxing Day Races
To arrange an interview with CEO Duane Dowell, please contact Marketing Coordinator, Isabella Heintze. M: 0402 942 394 E:isabella@njc.com.au