A plane carrying 35 first-class horses has touched down in Perth ahead of the State’s premier thoroughbred racing carnival, the TABtouch Masters Series and standardbred pacing carnival, the TABtouch Inter Dominion Series.
The unprecedented arrival equals a 20 per cent increase of interstate and international contenders across the two carnivals.
The contenders have come from New Zealand, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia – sharing a total value of stakes earnings in excess of $24 million.
The lucrative stakes on offer throughout the two carnivals has helped strengthen the fields.
The TABtouch Masters Series is the world’s only single-track thoroughbred racing festival featuring a Group 1 race worth at least $1 million on three consecutive Saturdays.
The TABtouch Inter Dominion Series is the richest harness race in Australia with three heats and a grand final amounting to a total of $1.8 million in prizemoney.
Last year 43,000 spectators attended the carnivals, injecting millions of dollars into the local economy through visitor spend.
The three weeks of racing and pacing entertainment starts on Friday, November 24 with heat one of the Inter Dominion at Gloucester Park, followed by day one of the Masters, the Railway Stakes, at Ascot on Saturday, November 25.