THE Gunbower Harness Racing Club has been hard at work getting the Gunbower Racecourse ready for Sunday’s trotters and pacing cups meet.
Around 800 people from throughout the region will converge on the racecourse for the club’s major annual event.
Gates will open at 11.45am, with the first of eight races on the card to begin at 1.10pm.
The meet’s two features races – the Cohuna Car Sales Bill Poxon Memorial Gunbower Trotters Cup and the Gunbower Family Hotel Gunbower Pacing Cup – start at 3.32pm and 4.39pm respectively.
“We’ve had a great number of acceptances, and the fields for all races look very good,” club secretary, Peter O’Shea said.
“People come from all over. All the main drivers in the State come up, some of the top trainers come up,” he said.
The club is anticipating a fun-filled family day out and has prepared accordingly, with a water slide and a 17-metre inflatable crocodile game being set up for the day.
Other attractions will include pony trots, the punters club, the gumboot throwing competition, pony trots and a fashion exhibition.
Those wanting to spend the day in style can book a seat under the VIP umbrellas for $60 per person, which includes all alcohol, nibbles, and race book – but O’Shea warned that it’s very popular.
“You’ve got to get in quick [with your bookings],” he said.
Those wishing to attend should note that there is strictly no BYO alcohol, and that the Fox Island Road Bridge will be closed.
Signs in the centre of town will point racegoers to the appropriate detour which will run along Gunbower Island Road and divert around the football field.
Additional transport options have been arranged, with a free bus departing Barham’s Royal Hotel at 11am, with stops at the Gateway to Gannawarra Centre car park at Cohuna and the Leitchville Hotel enroute to the racecourse.
The bus will return passengers home at the end of the day.
