The finishing line at the racecourse looking very lush last month. The Harden Picnic Races are a highlight on the town’s social calendar, with the event annually bringing in hundreds, if not thou- sands of people to our area from surrounding places dressed tidily on Cox Plate day. Over the past four years, the races, although continuing to be a great day out, have been missing a key component, the horses.

Whether the reason was Covid which closed down plenty more than just the races, or the rotten luck we’ve had with the weather, the four-year racing hiatus has left those who love the sport in the local area a little blue.

 

President of the Harden Picnic Races, Nathan Schofield, says the ground is in tip-top condition and hopes this

year we will get to see horses storm home past our local finish line.

“We thought we were in good shape last year, we had the fields set and had been working pretty hard keeping it up to par and then 70- 80mm of rain dropped and that flooded a strip of the track which was pretty unfortunate,” Schofield said.

“Hopefully, this year, we have a bit more luck, and we can get a nice week, and we can rock and roll.

“The tracks have been slashed and trimmed up nicely, we’ll do the airstrip closer to the day but at the moment everything is looking pretty good.

In recent times, meetings across NSW have been abandoned, with meetings at Quambone, Quirindi, and Brewarrina

unable to go ahead due to safety concerns held by Racing NSW stewards.

 

Despite these abandonments, Schofield isn’t concerned, and he and his committee are focused on delivering a good race day, both on and off the track. “There’s been a few can- celled meetings around here but that doesn’t re- ally impact us,” Schofield said.

“We’re just trying to keep it in good knick so if we do see a bit of rain the track holds up.

“We’re going to have them run on Cox Plate day again which falls on October 28th (and) sponsorship forms and marquee forms will be available towards the end of this month or the beginning of the next.

“It’s around this time when we start putting everything in place, and sort of lay the pieces out for them to be put together, tickets for both the races and the after party should be avail- able pretty soon, the after party was a sell-out last year so hopefully we get similar numbers this year.”

Despite the bad luck with the weather recently on race day, Schofield says the date is too good to move.

“It’s a cracking date, get- ting it on the same day as the Cox Plate just gives the TAB’s that much more to offer and brings in more people who have interest in the sport nationally, the Manikato is also going to be run on the Saturday opposed to the Friday night like it normally is so we definitely won’t be moving the date any time soon.”

Tully Potts