Around 3000 horses were registered between the competition and sale sections of the event, with some even having to be rejected due to a lack of places.

It wasn't just the organisers who benefited though, with businesses nearby the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre seeing a huge influx of customers.

Nutrien equine manager Mark Barton said this year the event well and truly stepped up to help fill the void of the delayed Country Music Festival.

"It's always been recognised, as I understand from Tamworth council, that they believe this is probably second only to Country Music Festival in terms of GDP and the impact it has on Tamworth businesses," he said.

"There would be 300 or 400 trucks out in the paddock, we've got 3000 horses here, everyone uses the pubs, they use the motels, they use the restaurants, they're buying fuel.

"It's always been talked about as being a multi-million impact on Tamworth city from an economic point of view."

Mr Barton said he was thrilled to see such a large crowd for the events and so many participants for the competition and sales, but admitted it wasn't actually a huge surprise.

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He said the demand was huge and he knew as far back as a year ago that the classic would be among the most well attended in its history.

"Everyone for months have been trying to identify whether they can get a horse into the sale" he said.

'We've got sale restrictions on vendors so that they've got a limit so we can cater for more vendors.

"The enquiry 12 months out was exceptional so we always knew we'd have plenty.

"We've knocked back over 200 horses so we've knocked back around 20 per cent of available entries."

Mr Barton said it was a wonderful way to mark the Nutrien Classic's 15th anniversary.

He also said more horses are expected to come in throughout the week, meaning the total number of people visiting could grow, which would be win for the event and the city.

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