Seven of the eight races have been named in honour of a person or group in town for the festival.

Kyle Cartner, Aleyce Simmonds, Amber Lawrence, Shelley Minson, Two Gals and Brett Clarke adorn races, but the honour of the main race has been bestowed on Hurricane Fall.

The Rock Edge Country band enjoyed a good look at the cup they will present during the race day, just hours before hitting the stage for the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Lead vocalist Jesse Vee described the feelings when the band was told of the news.

“It is pretty incredible and a massive honour for us as a band,” Vee said.

“We’re looking forward to the day and the festival, we’ll be mingling around the track, presenting the trophy and then getting ready for the opening concert later that night.”

Asked for a tip in the Country Cup, Vee offered this.

“Number four is a bit lucky for me,” he said.

When informed Foghorn was the horse selected, Vee and two of his three band-mates in attendance – Jimmy Hickey and Dusty Coffey – offered a great laugh.

The Country Music Cup meeting contains a great deal of depth, with a prize purse of $250,000 across the program attracting trainers from near and far.

Showcase status to the meeting from Racing NSW ensures minimum purses of $30,000 for seven races, including the feature, while a $40,000 Maiden (1200m) has not surprisingly drawn a capacity field.

“This is the first of two straight major Friday meetings for us,” TJC chief executive Damon Sullivan said.

“We’ve got deep fields right throughout the day chasing $250,000 in prizemoney and some very nice, promising horses such as Dan Roy and Royal Engineer in action throughout the day.

“Hopefully the forecast rain will not play too much of a part and we’ll have a great meeting.”

A crowd of around 500 is expected, with national television coverage through Sky Racing’s Thoroughbred Central channel.

Entry is $10 with some proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House.