Moonee Ponds, Victoria Moonee Ponds, Victoria Moonee Ponds is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Moonee Valley. At the 2011 Census, Moonee Ponds had a population of 13,532. Moonee Ponds is home to Queens Park and the Moonee Valley Racecourse. Moonee Ponds was named by Donald Kennedy after his native valley in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The Clocktower Centre was originally constructed as the Essendon Mechanics' Institute, which was later purchased by the State of Victoria to become the Essendon Town Hall. Today it is primarily used as
Horse racing in Ireland Run over a minimum of 2 miles, National Hunt races require the horses to clear a number of obstacles. There are three types of National Hunt race: Steeplechase and Hurdle races are held each year at 23 courses, of which 3 run exclusively National Hunt races. A number of other types of horse racing take place in Ireland, including Harness racing and Endurance racing. There are 26 major racecourses in Ireland, more per head of population than any other country, with more than 350 race meetings and 2,000 races annually. More than 1.3m people visit Irish racecourses each year, with