The club has two major events in November - Melbourne Cup day and the Taree Cup.

This will be the first time the Taree Cup has been run in November after the club was successful in lobbying Racing NSW to switch the date from August.

The State government announced this week that crowds of up to 5000 can attend regional meetings

Port Macquarie's cup meeting went ahead on Friday October 8 behind closed doors for the first time even though Port came out of lockdown earlier that. However, the easing of restrictions meant there will be spectators on hand for Friday's Krambach Cup meeting at Taree, even though there were strict COVID-19 regulations in place

Manning Valley Race Club chairman Greg Coleman pointed out that had the Taree Cup gone ahead in the traditional August date there would have been no spectators present, as the State was in lockdown. The 2020 cup, run on Sunday, August 23, had a capacity limited to 500 patrons.

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Taree Cup to be run in November

Mr Coleman confirmed the club will conduct a meeting on Tuesday, November 2 - Melbourne Cup day. This usually attracts the biggest crowd of the year to Bushland Drive. The club didn't run a meeting last year on cup day because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr Coleman expects there will be limitations on how many spectators allowed into the Winning Post Function Centre on Melbourne Cup day.

One of the main arguments put forward by the club to move from August was that a warmer month would help attract patrons to the track.

Mr Coleman said previously that the weather was poor for seven of the last 10 cup meetings run in August.

Strong westerly winds and cold conditions made it unpleasant for those in attendance last year. Mr Coleman said at the time that the club would have been lucky to get more than 500 people there even if the capacity hadn't been capped.

The Taree Cup will again be run over 2000 metres on November 21 and will carry $100,000 in prizemoney.