Carnival set for success

YARRA Valley Racing is on target to have its most popular and successful racing carnival on record.
Yarra Valley Racing chief executive Brett Shambrook said the 2005/06 racing carnival was attracting record crowds to the Yarra Glen racecourse.
“We have attracted in excess of 24,000 people to our feature event days so far this season,” he said. “With two of the feature events still to come, the Yarra Valley Pacing Cup and the Yarra Glen Thoroughbred Cup, it is anticipated that total attendances for the year will exceed 40,000 people.”
The Cox Plate Day at Yarra Glen on 22 October last year attracted a crowd of close to 4500 and the Melbourne Cup Day event pulled a crowd of just over 8000.
“The three Christmas Party race events held throughout November and December drew a combined total of almost 9000 people,” Mr Shambrook said.
“This was topped off by a record turnout of 3150 people to our annual Kids Day Out event on 5 January.”
Mr Shambrook said the SEW Eurodrive Yarra Valley Pacing Cup will be conducted on Sunday, 29 January as a twilight event, and that he was expecting the event to be popular.
The Aquanita racing Yarra Glen Cup will be conducted on Sunday, 26 March and will feature a strong food and wine theme, Mr Shambrook said.