Manning Valley Race Club's Taree Cup meeting has moved to November.
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This follows more than two years of negotiations between the club and Racing NSW and Racing NSW Country.
This year's cup will be run on Sunday November 21. It will again be over 2000 metres and will carry prizemoney of $100,000. The cup will now be run on the third Sunday in November each year.
"We're happy with the new date,'' race club chairman Greg Coleman said.
The club's cup carnival has been run in August for more than 40 years. Mr Coleman said the board of directors were determined to find a spring date.
The club ran an online survey last year where 68 percent of respondents indicated they'd prefer to see the cup run in spring.
"Records show that eight out of the last 10 cup days we've had in August have been unpleasant,'' Mr Coleman said.
"Because of the weather I felt sorry for the patrons who turned up on cup day and who weren't in one of the function rooms.
"We also struggle with track conditions at the end of winter, which is understandable. We have a lot of racing here in winter.
"Last year we had 11 starters for the cup and five scratchings, which was a bit of an issue and that came down to track conditions.
"Now we're in November which will be the premium time for the track.''
Taree Cup day was once one of the big ticket sporting events in the Manning. Mr Coleman agrees the meeting has lost some of that lustre in recent times.
"But it's not just a case of changing a date. The industry has to ensure it's not going to impact on any other race meetings. We also have to ensure there's a sufficient pool of horses for a 2000 metre race,'' he added.
Mr Coleman said this year's Taree Cup will be run two weeks after a Country Stayers Cup in Rosehill and two weeks before the rescheduled Armidale Cup. It will also be run on the same day as the Queanbeyan Cup.
"Southern horses from the Stayer's Cup can head to Queanbeyan, while we'll get those from the Hunter and northern areas,'' he said.
"It works in perfectly with the program.''
Mr Coleman said planning has already started for the revamped Taree Cup day.
"We're looking at cup packages for our Melbourne Cup Day meeting and the Taree Cup meeting, where we'll be offering discounts for those patrons who take the packages for both days,'' he said.
"We're also looking at working in with another sporting group.'' Mr Coleman said the club is looking to make it a family day.
"The weather at that time of year is usually in the mid-20s. We want to ensure there's entertainment for the family to attract non-racing people out for the day. We'll have entertainment for the kids there and we'll be having entertainment at the track after the racing for those who want to stay on and have a meal,'' he explained.
He expects the cup to be run around 5pm, with racing to conclude by 6pm.
"And it's also getting around the time when business houses are starting to consider Christmas parties.''
Mr Coleman said another problem with the August cup was a clash with winter sports that were involved in finals.
"Now in November people can go to the beach in the morning and come to the races in the afternoon.''
Mr Coleman agreed getting the date change was by necessity a lengthy process.
"But we have the date we want now,'' he added. "Now we have to make it work.''