More fans will have the opportunity to experience the Carnival of Cups excitement at Penrith Paceway in March following a minor change of date for the time-honoured Renshaw Cup.
The race meeting will be put back a day to 15 March, 2025 to avoid a clash with the Penrith Panthers’ NRL season opener.
It follows key discussions with several impacted clubs and the musical performers engaged for the fifth and final leg of the series.
“When we moved the Renshaw Cup to that particular weekend and included the race meeting as part of the Carnival of Cups it was always about making sure the Penrith community had the best chance to see one of the historically great races on our calendar,” HRNSW Chief Executive Peter Buckman said.
“So when the NRL draw was released and it became apparent that there would be a scheduling clash it just made sense to us to put in the necessary phone calls and change the date to give everyone the opportunity to experience the high quality racing, the entertainment and the family-friendly vibe that the Carnival of Cups provides.”
“We’ve signed some outstanding bands that we can’t wait to announce and fortunately they were not only available the following day but they were very open to the idea.”
“It also took some detailed conversations with some of our other clubs who are affected by this, but I must applaud them for seeing the reasons why we’ve made this change to the normal schedule and have bought into the grand vision for the betterment of the industry, racegoers and the Penrith community.”
With the change, racing will now be held at Club Menangle on Friday 14 March and at Penrith on Saturday, 15 March. Newcastle will race on Thursday, 13 March.
The Renshaw Cup is the fifth and final feature race in the second season of the Carnival of Cups series. Any horse that wins all five feature races will win an unprecedented million dollar bonus.
The Jason Grimson trained Swayzee won both of the first two legs of the series at Parkes and Young and connections have been clear in their intention to repeat the dose in Tamworth on 17 January and Albury on 14 February. If that was to happen, Swayzee would be racing for more than a million dollars in the Renshaw Cup, making it the most lucrative prize purse for a standardbred in the southern hemisphere.
Regardless of results at Tamworth and Albury, every Carnival of Cups feature victory for Swayzee going forward carries a significant bonus prize pool. Three series wins is worth an extra $250,000. Four wins earns half a million dollars.
“There is still a lot of racing to go at opposite ends of the state and it won’t be easy but there is a significant prize pool up for grabs so it really does shape as a memorable night of racing that I’m sure the Penrith community would not want to miss,” Mr Buckman said.
HRNSW will be revealing the music line-up for the Penrith Carnival of Cups in the coming weeks and patrons will be able to register for the FREE tickets to attend.
To stay up to date on the Carnival of Cups head to www.carnivalofcups.com.au
