Gates will open at 4.30pm ahead of the first race, set to jump at 5.52pm with the club “throwing the gates open”, offering free entry for all ages this year.
One of the club’s most popular meets, Echuca Harness Racing Club president Shane Gloury says he is “really looking forward” to the Easter Cup meeting.
“It’s always one of the highlights of our year, probably the second biggest meeting that we run for the year,” he said.
“We expect to have a great card of harness racing, we normally get good fields for this meeting.
“(The cup) is always a highly sought-after race so we expect we’ll have some good local nominations and I’m sure there'll be a few raiders coming up from further south.
“It’s also a good strong support program, there’s lots of local horses that traditionally target this meeting so it’ll be a good mix of locals and visitors coming from further afield.”
Weather forecasts for Easter Sunday look good and conditions on the track are set to be ideal for a great night of racing, with the club expecting around 1500 attendees for this year’s meet.
“Tracks shaping up well, we raced here last Thursday night, 10 days before the Easter cup meeting,” Gloury said.
“Track raced well, times were good, we're expecting that we'll have a really good night here on Sunday night and the racing will be first class.”
The punter’s club returns this year, giving attendees the opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of a top-tier racing mind.
“Darren Carroll, one of the best professional punters in the state, will be determining the bets,” Gloury said.
“So we'll pool all the money that we collect as far as the punters club tickets on Sunday.
“Darren will make the investments and hopefully at the end of the day we’ve got a return and a profit, for the people that take out a $10 punters club ticket.”
As well as the action on the track, off the course there will be a variety of kid-friendly activities as the club looks to foster a family event.
“As well as great racing we’ve got great activities for the kids so there’s Easter eggs for the kids as part of our giant Easter egg hunt,” Gloury said.
“We’ve got a petting zoo, a jumping castle, and we’ve also got Bluey and Bingo attending so there’s something for everyone.”
Gloury is confident race-goers won’t be disappointed if they come out this Sunday.
“Come down to the races, won't cost you anything to get in and there'll be good racing out on the track,’ he said.
“You're always close to the action here at Echuca, and there'll be plenty of activities to keep the kids occupied.”
The full race program for the Echuca Harness Racing Club’s Easter Cup meeting will appear in Friday’s edition of The Riv.
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