Flemington Racecourse Flemington Racecourse Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200 metre horse race. The racecourse is situated on low alluvial flats, next to the Maribyrnong River. The area was first used for horse racing in March 1840. The Flemington Racecourse site comprises 1.27 square kilometres of Crown land. The course was originally leased to the Victoria Turf Club in 1848, which merged with the Victoria Jockey Club in 1864 to form the Victoria Racing Club.
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