Weetwood to showcase Queensland carnival

WEETWOOD day at Clifford Park is set to take centre stage of the Queensland Spring, with four stakes races.

Connections of 2019 Weetwood Handicap winner Sexy Eyes celebrate with special guests, Saturday, April 6, 2019.

RACING: Clifford Park is set to take centre stage in the Queensland Spring.

Racing Queensland yesterday announced the Spring Racing Carnival program for 2020, with Toowoomba's Weetwood Handicap set down for September 26.

The feature, along with the Toowoomba Cup, will feature a $25k drop in prizemoney to $125k, with the Toowoomba Guineas dropping $5000 to $100k.

This falls in line with precedents set over the Winter Carnival, with a number of Group 1 races dropped from programming and the Stradbroke Handicap prize pool slashed dramatically.

The jewel in the Clifford Park two-year-old crown, the Pat O'Shea Plate, is the big winner in the announcement, rising in prizemoney to $75k on the metropolitan race day.

Toowoomba Turf Club chairman Kent Woodford said the announcement ensures the race day will attract quality nominations.

"They will feature a drop in prizemoney but both (Weetwood and Cup) will remain competitive," Woodford said.

"It's great to see the Pat O'Shea Plate on the metro stage. It's in the memory of Pat, and he would love to see it on that stage.

"We're probably fortunate with everything going on that we're still good to go. We were always going to have a little check (in prizemoney), but it's not as severe as other races have.

"They are time-honoured races and we're well positioned to attract trainers from all over."

This year will be the first September running since the move from April, to fall in line with the Carnival of Flowers in town.

As part of the change, Clifford Park will host the only Queensland meeting over the spring with four stakes races, cementing it as the showcase race day of the period.

"To be able to get into a new, revamped spring carnival, and be the centrepiece at that, is one of the things that warranted an agreement on the move," he said.

"We were only a lead-up to the Winter Carnival previously, and now we have a presence that we can build on and make bigger and better every year.

"We would love to be at capacity. There's already a lot of interest in spaces without even launching it.

"We will abide by the rules and with what that gives us, but by that time we might be able to have a further easing of restrictions.

"It's a great time of the year."

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