Sandown racecourse is located in Springvale, Victoria and is around 25 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre. Sandown has two race tracks incorporated into the one circuit which are known as the 'Hillside track' and 'Lakeside track'.

The racecourse itself had a major upgrade in 1999 and the club's premier race, the Sandown Cup was reinvented as the Sandown Classic, with increased prizemoney and a change from handicap to weight-for-age conditions.

A permanent Quarantine Centre at Sandown was completed in 1997 and used to house visiting international horses. Sandown racecourse is home to the Melbourne Racing Club.

Sportingbet Park
From January 1st 2012 Sportingbet took over sponsorship of the Sandown track From Betfair, after a major corporate partnership between the Melbourne Racing Club and Sportingbet Australia was announced.

Under the arrangement, Sportingbet becomes the exclusive Corporate Bookmaker Sponsor of the MRC and Sandown Racecourse will be renamed “Sportingbet Park” under the new sponsorship, effective from Sunday 1st January 2012.

Racing commenced at Sandown in 1965 and was administered by the Victoria Amateur Turf Club (VATC) which also looked after racing at Caulfield. The Club started a five 5 year plan in 2001 to establish a second turf track at Sandown to be known as Hillside, and the existing track to be renamed Lakeside. As part of the plan, the Club also changed from the VATC to become the Melbourne Racing Club.

The Melbourne Racing Club operates at both Caulfield and Sandown racecourses and holds 60 plus race meetings each year across the two locations, which acounts for almost half of all city racing in Melbourne.

On August 1st 2010, the Melbourne Racing Club merged with the Mornington Racing Club.

Sandown hosts its one-day racing carnival in spring time and the featured meeting is held one week after the end of the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington in November.

Spring racing carnival at Sandown
Sandown's feature race day in early November has four group races on the card, headed by the Group 2 Sandown Classic for stayers and the Group 2 Sandown Guineas for three-year-olds.

Below are the main races of the Sandown spring racing carnival.

The Sandown track has been developed into a course for all weather conditions and is considered to be one of the best wet weather tracks in Australia. It is a roomy track with a long straight and has a tough uphill run home that tests a horse's true grit in the run to the line. It suits strong finishers or horses that can find plenty under pressure in the straight.

Lakeside
Circumference:1,891 metres
Straight: 407 metres
Direction: Anti-Clockwise

Hillside
Circumference: 2,097 metres
Straight: 491 metres
Direction: Anti-Clockwise

The Hillside track uses the outside 30 metres section of the main straight and a moveable rail is positioned along the length of the straight to protect the inside 15 metres for the Lakeside track. This new track increases to a circumference of 2097 metres and the straight length is 491 metres.

Melbourne Racing Club
591-659 Princes Hwy
Springvale, Victoria

Ph: 03 9518 1300
Website: Melbourne Racing Club Website

How to get to Sandown racecourse
Sandown Racecourse is located in Springvale about 25 kilometres from Melbourne's city centre and can be reached by following the Princes Highway or Monash Freeway to the Springvale Road exit and then follow the clearly marked signs to the Sandown racecourse turn-off.

Melbourne has three other city racing tracks which can be found below;

• Caulfield racecourse details & track map
• Moonee Valley Racecourse details & track map
• Flemington racecourse details & track map

Visit our Melbourne autumn racing carnival and Melbourne spring racing carnival pages for more information on the two major racing carnivals in Victoria.