Flemington, Victoria Flemington, Victoria Flemington is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 4 km north-west of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government areas are the Cities of Melbourne and Moonee Valley. At the 2016 census, Flemington had a population of 7,719. The Melbourne Cup Thoroughbred horse race has been held at Flemington Racecourse since 1861. Flemington is located between the Maribyrnong River and the Moonee Ponds Creek and includes the locality of "Newmarket", in which the main commercial area Racecourse Road is located. The suburb was named by settler James Watson after Flemington Estate in Scotland. Another version of the origin
Hawthorne Race Course a winter standardbred meet. The track stopped in September for the Arlington Park meet and also began to hold occasional quarter horse races. In 1978, a fire destroyed Hawthorne's grandstand. The attempt to move the meet to Sportsman's Park Racetrack failed, but in 1979 racing was moved to Sportsman's Park. In 1980 the track officially opened for a 72-day thoroughbred meet beginning at the end of September. In 1985, Arlington Park burned to the ground and Hawthorne Race Course gained all summer dates except Arlington Million day. In 1986, 1987, and 1988 the track also held these summertime meetings. The