Port Macquarie Race Club were hoping against hope that the jewel in their crown could be held in front of some punters.
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But when the region was plunged into a seven-day lockdown on September 28, it sealed their fate.
This year's event on October 9 will now be held behind locked gates for the first-time ever regardless of whether Port Macquarie emerges from its snap seven-day lockdown on October 6.
Race club president Michael Bowman conceded the chances of holding the event with spectators was unlikely anyway.
And then the stay-at-home orders were implemented.
"The lockdown sealed our fate; we were a one percent chance of it happening before that, but then we were none," he said.
While Mr Bowman has been resigned to the outcome for a few weeks and is understandably disappointed, he acknowledged there are far more important things happening around the country.
"I look at it this way. There's people losing businesses and losing their mental health and all that," he said.
"Racing has still been able to continue right through the period and they probably get 70 or 80 percent of their income through wagering so we've been fortunate in that regard."
Punters will now have to watch the race on Sky Channel instead of flocking to Port Macquarie Racecourse.
"Everything will be as per normal on Sky Channel, there just won't be a crowd as per Newcastle, Wyong, Lismore and a few other places," Mr Bowman said.
"That's disappointing, but we were more or less expecting it since the last lockdown (in August)."
Next year's event will be held on October 7.
"We've made the Friday after the long weekend our own date which has been terrific for us going into spring and after the football finished," Mr Bowman said.
"It's our little niche and has been very successful for us. Hopefully there will be a bit of normality by next year."
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