Gunnedah secretary-manager Lyn Tongue has her fingers crossed the weather gods will oblige as the club prepares for its annual Christmas Hams meeting.
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The club's biggest meeting of the year, Tongue said it is "full steam ahead" for Saturday December 3, with lots of bookings for tables and marquees and the track recovering well after being inundated on "four sperate occasions" during the recent flooding.
"It's so flat out here and there's nowhere to go so it just takes ages for the water to get away, so it has been a slow process," Tongue said.
"But the track's in reasonable condition considering the floodwater that we've had."
As of weight allocations on Tuesday, it was rated a Good 4.
"The water lying on the grass actually kills the grass so there's a little bit of damage in that respect," she said.
"But with the hot days we've had and a bit of warmth into the soil, hopefully it's starting to respond a little bit to the fertiliser we put on prior to the floods."
She has been giving Racing NSW regular updates and sending through photos, and said they're satisfied with how it's going.
It has though been a big operation to get everything race ready after what has been some of the worst flooding many can remember.
Gunnedah trainer Gavin Groth remarked after the second-last flood, that in his 18 years there he couldn't recall the water coming up as high as it did.
"It went through every building, two foot of water through the toilets, and the kitchen and the betting ring," Tongue said.
"It's been an absolute mammoth task to clean up."
She added that each flood is "different too".
"We're governed by the two rivers - the Mooki and the Namoi.
"If the Namoi comes down first, which invariably it can with all the water from the Peel coming into it, the Mooki backs up and it floods in a different area, comes in on our 1000m shoot and comes down the track that way," Tongue said.
"Whereas if the Namoi breaks it'll come down the back straight and comes across the track."
She is grateful for the hard work everyone has put in and is just hopeful "the weather gods are up there looking down kindly on us". Especially after the disappointment last year of the meeting being transferred to Scone after Racing NSW stewards deemed the track unsafe following heavy rain.
The seven race program on Monday drew 170 nominations.
Gates open at 11am and there will be free shuttle buses running from town.
There will also be entertainment and fashions on the field.
Entry is $20 with under-18s free, or $30 for reserved seating. Call Tongue on 0427 420093 or email gunnedahjockeyclub2380@gmail.com to book a reserved seat.
