Kembla Grange racecourse is a major racing centre located 80km south of Sydney and is the home of the Illawarra Turf Club.

Kembla Grange racecourse is located 10km west of the Wollongong CBD and has been a major provincial racing venue for more than 150 years.

Archives reveal that race meetings were staged in the Wollongong area by the original Illawarra Turf Club from 1834, 26 years before racing began at Royal Randwick. 

The Kembla Grange estate, the present site of Kembla Grange racecourse, was purchased for racing in the early 1900s with the new course designed as a replica in size and shape to Randwick without a 1400m starting chute. 

The course proper is 2200m in circumference with a straight length of 420m, suiting horses that run on strongly. The present Illawarra Turf Club was formed and conducted its first race meeting at Kembla Grange recourse in 1976.

Illawarra Turf Club conducts more than 30 meetings annually at Kembla Grange racecourse with most meetings held on Saturdays.

The biggest race held at Kembla Grange each year is the Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic for three year old fillies over 1600m.

It was formerly known as the Keith Nolan Classic in honour of the founding chairman of the Illawarra Turf Club. It is a natural lead up to the Group 1 Vinery Stud (Storm Queen) Stakes over 2000m at Rosehill Gardens and the Group 1 ATC Australian Oaks at Randwick.

One trainer of much reknown out of Kembla is Gwenda Markwell and in 2019 she trained the Australian Derby winner Angel Of Truth who led all the way.