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By Telden Nelson (Gilgandra Newspapers Pty Ltd )

Gilgandra Jockey Club will be holding their first race meeting since February this weekend. President of the jockey club, Andrew Schier, said that everyone was keen to get back into racing despite some setbacks with COVID-19 restrictions.

“Everyone is keen to go, it’s a bit of disappointment that things were sort of opening up again but then in the last three or four weeks things have deteriorated a bit,” said Mr Schier.

“The committee was a bit apprehensive but now we’ve got our COVID-19 plan in place, it should all go alright.

"The meeting looks great with 108 acceptors for day. We received double our barrier limit accepted - which is 12 for our 1100 metres - so we have split that race to gain another one making it a seven-race program for the day.

“We’ve got plenty of horses wanting to race at Gilgandra,” added Mr Schier.

With the recent rain, the club president predicts the course will be on the heavier side but would still run well.

“The track will be in the heavy range I think, because we’ve had such a great deal of rain. It’s a little bit different to the last race meeting we conducted in February.

"It’s a winter track of course and the curator Grant Zell has got it in good order; it’ll race well.

“The weather is supposed to be fine for the rest of the week and everyone knows that Gilgandra is one of the best wet weather tracks in NSW, and that’ll show up.”

Given current COVID-19 restrictions, the race meeting will only be open to owners, participants, and club members.

However, Gilgandra Jockey Club will be offering memberships to whoever wishes to join up to the day of the meeting.

“You get a free racebook, and are entitled to go to four race meetings, which works out cheaper than general admission.

"Everyone that attends will be required to sign a registrar due to the COVID restrictions,” said Mr Schier.

There will be limited canteen facilities and the bar will be closed due to the restrictions. Bookmakers are expected, along with TAB facilities.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Gilgandra here