Bunbury Cup tickets now on sale

Tickets to next year’s Autumn Racing Carnival went on sale this week and the Bunbury Turf Club is hoping to build on the success of the expanded Country Cup week introduced this year.

The racing starts with Bunbury Stakes Day on Sunday, March 9, but the festivities kick off well before that with the Bunbury Triathlon Club’s Aquathon on the Saturday and the South West Fashion Festival, with an added emphasis on race day headwear, even earlier.

Tuesday, March 11, will see the Turf Club host a Sportsman’s Lunch before thousands descend on the track for Cup Day on Thursday, March 13.

Popular music concert Bayside Beats returns for a second year with The Angels, Diesel and Mi-Sex confirmed as the headline acts for the carnival closer on Friday.

Australian legends The Angels are by any measure one of country’s greatest and most enduring rock bands, while prodigious singer-guitarist Mark Lizotte, aka Diesel, played to a sold out VAT2 earlier this year.

Turf Club marketing manager Brody Russell said he was looking forward to rebounding from the poor attendance at this year’s rain-affected Bunbury Cup Day.

“This year we only had about 5000 people come through the gate, which is a couple of thousand down on previous years,” he said.

“It literally started raining at about 11.30am and did not stop the whole day so the downturn is understandable and we expect to be back near our 8000 capacity again next year.”

Event organiser Jo O’Dea said the expanded Country Cup format had been a success despite the rain.

“The idea is to package the Autumn Racing Carnival so people who wouldn’t normally attend the races see it as an alternative for entertaining and socialising and are encouraged to get involved as well,” she said.

Tickets to Bunbury Cup Day, Stakes Day and Bayside Beats can be bought online at www.ticketmaster.com.au.

Russell said corporate packages for Cup and Stakes Days would be released before Christmas.