The highlight of the Wauchope Jockey Club's annual calendar will take place on Boxing Day with the running of the Woop Woop Cup.
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Jockey club president Les Latimore said it was an exciting time ahead for racegoers as health restrictions started to be wound back from December 15.
"We had a fairly full crowd last year except for people who were a bit cautious about coming out, but this year it's going to be different," he said.
"It's going to be a bumper year I think with people wanting to get out and restrictions gone."
The race has a proud history that stretched back for almost half a century at Wauchope.
"Fifty years ago feels like it was just yesterday to me because I was a little fella at the racetrack, my dad was a bookmaker and my uncle was a trainer and it's gone by in a flash," Latimore said.
"The Wauchope track has been going for around 80 years in its current location."
Final fields are expected by December 22 with a full program ahead.
"It's nearly guaranteed we'll have eight horses per race so it'll be a capacity field in every race," Latimore said.
"The prizemoney is a bit less at Wauchope because it's non-TAB, but the bottom line is at Port Macquarie they have all the provincial horses coming up so the locals get 10 percent of nothing because they don't run anywhere.
"At Wauchope you've got a good chance of winning a race and getting a couple of thousand so you've got to look at it that way. Something is better than nothing."
The race meeting will be the only one held in the Hastings before the New Year.
"This is the one that will pump up the region. We've had a bad year so we deserve to have a good crowd and make a few dollars. We're looking good."
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