New date for Benalla Cup announced
The abandoned Benalla Cup has found a new date and will be run over a shorter distance.
The September 30 Benalla Cup program was called off because of heavy rainfall in the preceding 24 hours leaving the track unsuitable for racing.
The new Benalla program will be run on March 25 with the Cup run over 1600m supporting the Mornington Cup meeting on the same day.
Racing Victoria’s racing operations manager Paul Bloodworth said it was disappointing to have lost the Cup but he was happy to have a new date.
“The autumn edition of the Cup will be held over a reduced distance of 1600 metres so as not to conflict with the existing Mornington Cup day program before returning to its traditional 2040 metre journey in the spring of 2017,” Bloodworth said.
It is anticipated the Benalla Gold Cup will return to its traditional AFL Grand Final Eve position next year.