Its more than just racing at Good Friday Country Discovery Day

ERC will be donating $5 from every ticket sold for admission to the Good Friday Appeal, a community fundraising event that supports the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Moama Bowling Club has also agreed to match the donation by ERC to increase the support for the cause by the Echuca-Moama community.

There will also be activations throughout the day such as donation stations and a punters’ club to help raise more money for the Good Friday Appeal.

ERC has numerous off-track activities for families and attendees of all ages, including free kids activities from Kelly Sports and It’s Party Time, an Easter egg hunt and live music from local artists such as Sam and Sam, Darcy Ramage and Georgina Bush.

There will also be courtesy buses running from 11am that will depart from The Border Inn, Moama Bowling Club, the Caledonian Hotel and Echuca Hotel with the last bus leaving the track at 6pm.

As well as standard courtesy buses, the club will also provide a caravan park bus route which departs Moama Waters at 11am and noon and picks up from Moama on the Murray, Maidens Inn Moama and Discovery Park Echuca.

Return buses will depart the club at 5pm and 5.45pm.

ERC will have a full race program on the day with eight scheduled between 1pm and 5pm with major races including the Good Friday Appeal Handicap, Quest Serviced Apartments Country Trainers Series Final, bet365 Country Discovery and Moama Bowling Club Country Trainers Series Final.

Echuca Racing Club track manager Jarratt Farley highlighted the history of the Good Friday Country Discovery Day and the club’s excitement to be hosting the event.

“The Country Discovery Day commenced roughly four years ago when Country Racing Victoria and the Victorian Government came together to reboot tourism after COVID,” he said.

“The idea of the race meeting is that it is held at different clubs every year, so people can travel around to different venues to boost the economy across the state.

“We are the fourth club to host it, which is quite exciting and being on Good Friday, we’ll be making a donation to the Good Friday Appeal which Moama Bowling Club will match.

“It is an exciting day and to have a $500,000 race at Echuca is pretty amazing considering the biggest race we have, the Echuca Cup is $100,000.

“It’s an honour to host this race, particularly with the visibility we’ll get from it, it is a real privilege.”

Farley also outlined the club’s desire to make a day out at the races an affordable and family-orientated event that anyone can enjoy.

“Horse racing is a great event for everyone, we’ll have kids activities and other things happening off the track, so it is good for the young and old,” he said.

“It is also an affordable day out and we want to maintain that it’s a great sport and we want everyone to be able to enjoy it.

“We are all flat out getting organised, so it is all in the midst of getting put together, so everyone at the club is very excited and it should be a great day.”

To book tickets or hospitality packages, visit bet365 Good Friday Country Discovery Race Day.

Check out the eight-page race fields liftout, starting on page 23 of today’s Riv