Randwick, or officially ‘Royal’ Randwick, Racecourse is situated in the suburbs of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, just three miles from the city centre. The racecourse was originally established in its current location, on Botany Road, Randwick, in 1833 but, after a stuttering start, came under the auspices of the Australian Jockey Club in 1860. In 2010, Randwick underwent a controversial redevelopment at a cost of A$150 million to the New South Wales taxpayer. Today, Randwick is famous as the home of the Australian Derby, run over 2,400 metres, or approximately a mile and a half, on the second Saturday in April each year. The Australian Derby takes place a week after the Golden Slipper at nearby Rosehill Gardens racecourse.
Course Characteristics
Randwick has the distinction of being the oldest and longest racecourse in New South Wales. The racecourse is designed in traditional Australian fashion, that is, with four straights connected by four bends to form a rectangle 2,200 metres, or a mile and three furlongs, around. The course is characterised by wide, sweeping bends and an uphill home straight 410 metres, or two furlongs, in length. Races up to a mile start on series of chutes, which require runners to travel up to three furlongs, or more, before negotiating the turn into the home straight and tend to favour those drawn on the inside.
Track Facts
The inaugural running of the Australian Derby, originally the AJC Randwick Derby Stakes, took place in 1861.
In the 1961 Australian Derby, jockey Mel Schumacher, who rode the first past the post, Blue Era, was banned for life (subsequently reduced to six years) for grabbing the leg of Tommy Hill, rider of runner-up Summer Fair. Schumacher’s actions were captured by the head-on camera used for the first time at Randwick that day.
Peter Moody’s unbeaten mare Black Caviar recorded the twenty-fifth, and final, victory of her career in the T.J. Smith Stakes at Randwick on April 13, 2013.