Apsley Racing Club

Dress to impress with your wild west style Wimmera Roadways Apsley Cup
Thanks to Quality Wool and Patrick of Coonawarra for supporting us June 7

🏃🏼 🏃🏾‍♀️ Get your run on! Before your race outfit bling 💃🤠
Entries are being accepted for the Apsley Fun Run June 7.
👉🏾 [email protected]

The pub where the race finished at the front door.

The race track was through the scrub behind the Border Inn Hotel in Apsley. The straight ran through the settlement on the dirt track. And the finishing post? Right at the front door of the pub.

That's not a metaphor. That was the actual course design — by the publican.

His name was Joseph Botterill. And as the enterprising Border Inn publican, he made sure the finish line was not far from his door. Whether thirsty punters needed convincing to come inside after the race is not recorded. We suspect they did not.

The year was 1855. The Apsley Racing Club is the oldest surviving racing club in Victoria — and it predates the Melbourne Cup by six years.

Famous poet and jockey Adam Lindsay Gordon regularly rode in those races — the same man who later became one of the most celebrated voices in Australian literature, whose bust sits in Westminster Abbey, and who reportedly leapt his horse over the hitching rail of the Royal Oak Hotel in Penola for fun.

The 1871 races were shrouded in controversy when the winning jockey was pulled off his horse and attacked by Naracoorte racegoers who had placed their money on the beaten favourite.

The Border Inn itself closed in 2011. A syndicate of 23 local farming families from 12 households banded together in 2014 and bought it back — because nobody else was going to save them. "We drew a line in the sand," one of them said. "If we want to be saved as a community we knew we'd have to do it ourselves."

The pub is open again. The town is alive again. And the front door still stands — right where the horses used to finish.

Some pubs are worth saving. This one always was.

📍 Border Inn Hotel, Apsley VIC. Est. 1850.

Heading to Apsley Cup in Edenhope?
TAC shuttle buses will be available to help get you home safely.
If you plan on having a drink - a taxi, bus or lift home is your best bet.
Make your plans today.
If we all get home safely, everyone wins.
Book your bus here: https://country.racing.com/apsley/calendar/apsley-cup

Transport Accident Commission (TAC)

Giddy Up! Looking forward to seeing all the ideas and creativity!

Leela and Wes would love everyone to get onboard with their art competition. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Patrick of Coonawarra is our beverage partner in 2026.
Premium wines will be available in the Public Bar and the Marquee.

Gates Open: 11am
General Admission includes Wild West Fashions on the Field, kids activities and live tunes with Leah Briggs.
Winter Woolies Marquee is your ticket to an all-inclusive day.
🎟 General Admission
🎪 Entry to the Winter Woolies Marquee trackside
🍾 Food and beverage package 12-5pm
🎶 Live music

You know what to do 👇🏼
Tickets: https://country.racing.com/apsley/calendar/apsley-cup

Join us in Apsley, June Long Weekend.

What's on your plan?

🏃‍♀️🚶Casual stroll or heart raising run at the Cross Country?
🖼👩‍🎨 Gaze at the creative talent at the Art Show?
🕺💃 Strut on the dance floor at the Cup Eve Cabaret?
🤠👢 Glam your Winter Fashion with Wild West bling at the Apsley Cup?

Whatever makes your list, make it to Apsley June Long weekend!

Wimmera Roadways Apsley Cup Apsley Primary School

Save the date !!!
Apsley races
7th June 2026