THE Wallabadah Jockey Club has confirmed relocating its annual New Years Day Cup meeting was not feasible.
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Earlier in the week, the club was forced to call off its only meeting of the year due to the region's ongoing-drought conditions.
The decision prompted calls from punters and trainers alike to relocate the meeting to another local track, which has recently happened with Armidale having its meetings moved to Moree and Gunnedah.
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One such trainer calling for the meeting to be relocated was Tamworth's Sue Grills.
"I was really surprised the meeting wasn't shifted over to Quirindi," Grills said.
"It's close by, the track is in pretty good condition given the current conditions and I think it would have made for a pretty nice day."
However, club president Tim Mackie said relocating the meeting wasn't an option for the club.
"We did explore all the options for relocating the meeting, but it was just not feasible on such short notice," Mackie said.
"The financial cost of relocating the meeting was also a major factor behind the decision to just cancel the event.
"We are a volunteer-based club, so the expense behind relocating it made it not an option for us.
"As well as that, we believe the major appeal of our meeting is that it is at Wallabadah, so with that also in mind we opted not to move the meeting."
Mackie said the club had also explored the option of hosting a race-free meeting on the day.
"We explored all options but ultimately we decided the best course of action was to not have a day at all and come back bigger and better in 2021," he said.
"Honestly, we are disappointed this year's Cup won't go ahead, but it is not the end of the world.
"We will be hoping the conditions improve and we can return in 2021."