Ballarat’s first Saturday stand-alone meeting, which included the running of the Ballarat Cup, has been hailed a success.
The meeting was this year transferred from a Sunday fixture, resulting in an increase in crowd figures and wagering across the weekend.
It will be run as a Saturday stand alone for at least the next two years.
Crowd figures grew from 6306 in 2013 to 10,130 this year.
Turnover was up 13 per cent on the corresponding meeting held at Moonee Valley in 2013 where eight races and 95 starters was offered against 10 races and 109 runners at Ballarat.
Racing Victoria chief executive Bernard Saundry said the figures showed the meeting to be a success.
Besides the Ballarat Cup, the unique Magic Millions Clockwise Classic, a prelude to the Magic Millions Classic on the Gold Coast in January, was also held.
Discussions are also likely to take place of extending the distance of the $200,000 Ballarat Cup from the 2200m of Mujadale’s success to 2300m with the winner able to pass one of the elimination clauses for the Melbourne Cup.
