From July 2 it will race almost exclusively of a Thursday afternoon and all those TAB meetings will be spread inside a nine-month period.

Only next year its Golden Guitar Carnival will not be Thursday meetings, Tamworth  chairman Terry Browne said.

“Basically we race three meetings a month on a Thursday,” he confirmed.

“Previously this area had 32 meetings spread over 12 months. 

“Now we will have 31-32 meetings spread over nine months.

“They will all be eight-race programs as well so that we will have more racing.

“The Golden Guitar Carnival is the exception. 

“We race the Gold Nugget meeting on Wednesday, January 13 then the heats of the Golden Guitar on the Sunday night (January 17) and then the Golden Guitar Final on Friday, January 22.

“But apart from that, the rest are Thursday meetings at this stage.”

The Tamworth club races the first three Thursday meetings on July 2, 16 and 30 then goes for a three-month break.

“The good thing about that is that it’s a good period to spell your horses – usually good feed around,” Browne said.

Browne hopes the new scheduling is just the beginning of a successful period for the club, with the DA for the new track complex to be submitted mid-year.

“It’s not perfect,” he said of the nine-month pacing period. “But it’s a start.”

Meanwhile, the pacing attention turns to Narrabri and Armidale over the next month.

The Narrabri & District Harness Racing Club races this Saturday and then Sunday week, with heats of the Narrabri Carnival of Cups and John Dean Memorial highlighting this Saturday’s day meeting. 

Nominations for that meeting close at 9.30 this morning.

The $7500 Narrabri Cup and John Dean Memorial Finals will be run Sunday, March 15 along with the $9000 Narrabri Carnival of Cups.

Armidale then races two successive Sundays on March 22 and 29 with the 3YO Golden Horse Shoe Final (1980m), Armidale Cup (2360m) and CO Final (1609m) all worth $10,000 each on March 29.