Flemington Racecourse The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. In 1871 the Victoria Racing Club Act was passed, giving the VRC legal control over Flemington Racecourse. The racecourse is shaped not unlike a pear, and boasts a six-furlong (1,200 m) straight known as 'the Straight Six.' The track has a circumference of and a final straight of for race distances over . Races are run in an anti-clockwise direction. The course has a crowd capacity of over 120,000 and contains three grandstands. The biggest ever attendance was on Victoria Derby Day in 2006 when 129,069 people saw Efficient win the Victoria
Ellis Park Race Course and Raceway for $4 million, to help fund the installation of Instant Racing machines. Saratoga purchased the remaining 70 percent in 2018. Among the stakes race run at Ellis Park, is their signature race and only Graded stakes race the Groupie Doll Stakes which is a Grade III event. Other listed stakes races that are run at Ellis Park include: the Ellis Park Breeders' Cup Turf, the Governor's Handicap, the Tri-State Handicap and the Audubon Oaks. The track was designed after the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, and features a 1.125-mile dirt track. The track features chutes