Sunshine Coast Turf Club

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club ("SCTC") conducted its first race meeting on Thursday 25th July 1985. In racing industry terms, the SCTC is a young club but despite its short operating life has now developed into a first class racing and training facility.

The property on which the SCTC operates was owned by Mr. Edward Corbould a grazier.

In 1979 the land was purchased by the Caloundra City Council until the freehold was purchased by the Sunshine Coast Racing Unit Trust in July 2007.

Most recently a further milestone in the advancement of racing on the Sunshine Coast with Racing Queensland Limited and the Sunshine Coast Turf Club Inc operating a new business model from 1st May 2010.

The new partnership includes Racing Queensland Limited managing all track and race day associated staff. The Club now manages a defined area being totally responsible for the areas including members’ facilities and operating the Turf Club so far as it relates to conducting a race meeting.

The future of the “SCTC” is very much assured as we enter exciting times.

The SCTC grass racetrack is regarded as one of the best in Australia. In addition to the grass track, the club now also has a synthetic racetrack ("Cushion Track") which was installed in 2007/08. The official opening was on Sunday 6 April 2008 with a lot of fanfare.

This $6 million investment,approved and funded by Racing Queensland is an example of the importance of the SCTC to the larger picture of racing in Queensland.

The cushion track provides an all-weather racing surface, and is the first of its kind in Australia.It has provided a major boost to the Club's capacity and capability to provide high quality training and racing facilities despite the fairly high local rainfall.

Late 2008/early 2009 saw the installation of lights. Racing Queensland spent a further $7.1 million at Corbould Park Racecourse on the lighting project. There are 960 lights, 40 towers - with the tallest being 42m, and approx. 2 million watts of brightness! Saturday 21st February 2009 saw the opening of our first race meeting under lights and the first of a succession of Saturday meets whilst Toowoomba Turf Club was having their cushion track installed.

Another major addition to the ‘SCTC’ is the construction of a 266 stables complex within the grounds of Corbould Park which will be managed by Racing Queensland. The SCTC operates in one of the fastest growing areas of Australia, and in one of Australia's favourite tourist destinations, The Sunshine Coast.

With a population of almost 300,000 which is projected to increase to 500,000 over the next 20 years.

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club is undoubtedly one of the finest racing venues in Australia. The $42 million complex, with its unique architecture, picture-perfect gardens, landscape and lake, is a venue that provides for a spectrum of events, not only for residents of the Sunshine Coast, but also for interstate and international visitors.

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club host four major racing events a year being;

• The Sunshine Coast Cup held in January each year
• Ladies Oaks Day held on the traditional Caloundra Show holiday
• The Caloundra Cup held in June/July as part of the Queensland high profile Winter Carnival
• Melbourne Cup Day

With these major events and over 70 other race days per year the club is proud that each year our visitor numbers increase. This year it is expected that over 100,000 patrons will go through the gates of Corbould Park.

Although Corbould Park is known mainly as a racing venue it is much more than that.

Each year many couples use the beautiful manicured gardens and grounds to be married and after the functions rooms to celebrate. Other events held at the course include Conferences, Trade exhibitions and meetings. Even schools use the venue for Cross Countries, Hospitality Training and most recently the venue was used for Defensive Driving Skills conducted by Rotary International.

On race days the venue is used for a number of special events from Bucks Parties, Birthdays, and many other celebrations.