Sandown Racecourse

Sandown Racecourse (also known as Ladbrokes Park due to naming rights)[1] is a Thoroughbred horse racing race track administered by the Melbourne Racing Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Built for the Victoria Amateur Turf Club, it is the only metropolitan racecourse built in the 20th century and was opened before a crowd of 52,000, in June 1965.[2]

This page is for Sandown Racecourse, Australia. For the racecourse in the United Kingdom, see Sandown Park Racecourse.
Ladbrokes Park
formerly known as Sandown Racecourse
Sandown Racecourse finish post
LocationMelbourne, Victoria
Date opened19 June 1965
Screened onSeven Network

Sandown Racecourse is situated 25 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD on the Princes Highway in the suburb of Springvale in the City of Greater Dandenong.[2]

The original course was a turfed oval shape, 1892 metres in circumference and 30 metres wide, with sweeping cambered turns and an uphill home straight of 407 metres.

With the increase in the number of overseas horses being attracted to the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival a Quarantine Centre was established at Sandown Racecourse and used for the first time in 1997.

The Sandown Racecourse also features a motor racing circuit on the outside of the racecourse, referred to as Sandown Raceway. A Greyhound racing facility also called Sandown Park is just to the south-west on the opposite side of Lightwood Road.

Redevelopment

In October 2001, the Melbourne Racing Club commenced the redevelopment of Sandown Racecourse. This consisted of an additional 30 metre wide home turn and widening of the main straight from 30 to 45 metres, and widening of the turn out of the straight from 30 to 45 metres. This created two turf tracks. The course using the outer home turn and outside 30 metres in the main straight was named Sandown Hillside, and the course comprising the reconfigured inner home turn and full 45 metres wide straight was named Sandown Lakeside. The Lakeside course has a circumference of 1857 metres and a home straight of 407 metres and the Hillside course is 2087 metres in circumference with a home straight of 491 metres. Racing on the reconfigured tracks commenced on 25 January 2003 with the number of meetings hosted at Sandown being increased from 32 to 41 per season.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival traditionally closes with the Sandown Carnival, one week after the final day of the Flemington carnival, and features the Sandown Guineas and Zipping Classic in November each year.

In 2008 the MRC changed the name to Sportingbet Park. In 2015 the track was again renamed to William Hill Park and in 2016 it was changed to Ladbrokes Park.[1]

Transport

The racecourse can be reached directly by suburban rail in 40 minutes from Melbourne's central Flinders Street station, via Sandown Park railway station on the Pakenham/Cranbourne railway lines.

Races

The following is a list of Group races which are run at Ladbrokes Park.

Grp Race name Age Sex Weight Distance Date
2 Zipping Classic Open Open wfa 2400 November
2 Sandown Guineas 3YO Open sw 1600 November
3 Eclipse Stakes 3YO+ Open qlty 1800 November
3 Sandown Stakes 4YO+ Open qlty 1500 November
3 Summoned Stakes 4YO+ Mares sw+p 1500 November
3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes Open Open wfa 1300 November

References
  1. Donnelley, Neale (23 February 2015). "Sandown renamed Ladbrokes Park". Racing Network (Australia). racing.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  2. "Ladbrokes Park (Sandown) Racecourse Information". racing.com (Racing Victoria). Retrieved 9 November 2015.

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