Following the club’s bumper Grand National Steeplechase meeting last winter, the club has scored a six-race all-jumps card this coming August.

It is believed that the raceday will be the first conducted entirely over the obstacles in Australia since the 1800s.

The meeting will have six jumps races and be highlighted by the running of the $350,000 Grand National Steeplechase. It will include two maiden hurdles, two open hurdles – the Ballarat Marathon Hurdle and JJ Houlahan Hurdle – as well as an open 3200m steeplechase.

No flat races are planned for the meeting, which is locked in for Sunday, August 20.

This meeting will follow a planned two-day jumps racing carnival in Ballarat during 2016, which was trimmed to just one day due to prolonged heavy rainfall. This saw the opening day of the festival transferred to preserve the track for the feature jumps races the following afternoon.

In heavy conditions last August, Wells took out his second Grand National Steeplechase to highlight the day.

During the upcoming jumps season, a total of $3.51million in prizemoney will be up for grabs across a total of 63 jumps races. It will commence on March 16 at Pakenham – where the first Australian night jumps races have been programmed – and conclude on September 24 at Coleraine.

“We're excited to showcase the country's premier hurdle and steeplechase horses with Australia's first all-jumps race meeting of the modern era at Sportsbet-Ballarat on Sunday, 20 August,” Racing Victoria’s manager of racing operations Paul Bloodworth said.

“For jumps racing enthusiasts and participants alike, this all-jumps meeting is sure to be one of the highlights of the calendar in 2017 and will really place our premier hurdle and steeplechase horses in the limelight.”

“It's also exciting to expand the jumps racing footprint at Racing.com Park with three meetings programmed for next year, while Sale return to the fold and will host jumps races for the first time since 2009.”

Ballarat is booked to host two other meetings with jumps races in 2017.

The club has two hurdles and a steeplechase scheduled at both the May 14 and June 15 races.

It will also host two sets of jumps trials throughout the year.

BTC will have to wait until later this month to host its first meeting since last November’s Ballarat Cup.

The club’s scheduled race dates on January 5 and January 15 were recently shifted to Werribee and Warrnambool respectively, meaning a return to racing will occur on January 25.

This alteration has been to allow the track time to recover from a sand slitting project in the home straight, as well as a number of other remedial works.