The 2025/26 Queensland Summer Racing Carnival is set to shine, with all roads leading to the Gold Coast.  

The glitz and glamour of the Magic Millions will once again headline the Summer Carnival, with the final meetings offering more than $20 million in prize money and bonuses across the two 10-race cards at Aquis Park.

In the lead up to The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Raceday, the re-shaped twilight Magic Millions Gold Raceday on January 10 will feature the second running of the $3 million TAB Magic Millions Sunlight (3YO) slot race, with the inaugural event clinched by subsequent Group 1 winner and The Everest hopeful, Private Harry.

The $1.5 million Racing Queensland Magic Millions QTIS race will also make the move to the Summer Carnival’s penultimate meeting, resulting in a $7.3 million prize pool for the card.

The $13.25 million The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Raceday on January 17 will serve as the Summer Carnival’s crowning jewel, headlined by the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Magic Millions 3YO Guineas. 

“The Crisafulli Government wants Queensland to be recognised as the undeniable home of Australian sport and first-class racing events are essential to helping us achieve this goal,” Racing Minister Tim Mander said. 

“The Carnival is once more headlined by the iconic Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, which continues to grow in popularity and brings thousands of visitors to Queensland each year.   

“With the eyes of the world on Queensland in the lead-up to 2032, the Summer Carnival is another prime opportunity to showcase our great state to a global audience.”  

The Mooloolaba Cup at the Sunshine Coast Turf Club on November 22 takes its place as the traditional Summer Carnival opening, before the Tattersall’s Listed Recognition Stakes and Tattersall’s Classic take centre stage at Doomben seven days later – kicking off six weeks of racing at the Brisbane Racing Club.

The Group 3 George Moore Stakes will feature some of the state’s top sprinters on December 6, alongside the Listed Phelan Ready for two-year-olds on a Magic Millions path. 

The day will also host the finals for both the Country Cups Challenge and Country Stampede, which continues to give the state’s regional participants the opportunity to compete on a metropolitan raceday for more than $300,000 prize money.

The Gateway will once again be open to three and four-year-olds, with a berth in the $3 million The Star Stradbroke Handicap on offer in 2026. 

Winning connections of The Gateway will have the option to run their own horse or negotiate to designate their slot to one of the horses nominated, and in the top 40 order of entry, for next year’s time-honoured Stradbroke Handicap.

“The Queensland Summer Racing Carnival is positioned to cater for every sector of the industry, with breeders, owners, trainers, syndicators, jockeys and participants afforded the opportunity to taste success here,” RQ Acting CEO Lachlan Murray said.

“Similar to what we see in the winter, our Summer Carnival has forged a strong reputation of unearthing the next stars of Australian racing – headlined by Private Harry’s sublime win in the Sunlight before going on to taste Group 1 success in the autumn. 

“The most recent edition of The Gateway also delivered a fairytale result for Craig Cousins and The Inflictor, bestowing his fan favourite horse a berth in the Stradbroke where he was desperately unlucky not to feature in the finish.”

The three-year-old staying programme has become a mainstay of the Summer Carnival, with Group 1 champions in recent years including Kovalica and Gypsy Goddess having emerged through the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes – to be held on December 20. 

The $300,000 event is positioned three weeks from the Magic Millions The Wave over the same distance on January 10, which is once again open to all Magic Millions Race Series nominated horses aged three and up.  

On the Gold Coast, racing under lights will be showcased as part of the Summer Carnival on December 19, which will host a $250,000 edition of Magic Millions The Debut, open to unraced 2YO colts, geldings and fillies.

The Summer Carnival will then return in January for the two marquee Magic Millions racedays, coinciding with the 2026 Gold Coast Yearling Sale from January 13-19, 2026. 

“The Queensland Summer Racing Carnival is truly a festival like no other celebrating equine excellence,” Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said. 

“The program of Magic Millions races conducted at the Gold Coast Turf Club deliver rich prize money opportunities across all ages, classes and distances as well as world-class innovations such as The Syndicate and The Debut races plus the Racing Women initiative. 

“It’s the most accessible racing carnival to participate in – you have to be here in Queensland.”

Click here to see the full programme for the 2025/26 Queensland Summer Racing Carnival.