Narrabri Jockey Club busily preparing for return of races

As Narrabri Jockey Club gears up for its highly anticipated Narrabri Races on Saturday, March 23, the committee are busily preparing the event in the background.

This will be the first race meet held by the new committee formed in late 2023.

Since then, the club has recruited several new enthusiastic and energetic members who have participated in numerous working bees and countless hours of behind the scenes volunteer work in preparation for this year’s event.

Narrabri Jockey Club president, Will Childs said the committee has been working hard in preparing the racecourse, track, and amenities for this year’s race day but said that is just the beginning.

“The Narrabri Races is a community event that many look forward to each year,” he said.

“Delivering this year’s annual Narrabri Races is certainly the committee’s focus of attention at the present, but we are also working on delivering actions according to our strategic business plan that will guide the club over the next several years.”

The strategic business plan contains the club’s vision, goals and action items to be realised over the next 5 to 10 years.

The plan includes proposed track, infrastructure, and amenity upgrades which the club hopes will allow increased community, sporting and corporate usage of the venue as a premier racing and events precinct.

“Having a clear strategy with measurable objectives will hopefully allow the area to be transformed into a regional hub for additional racing meets with the plan to include significant improvements to the current infrastructure,” Mr Childs said.

“Given the end goal of hopefully being able to host several race meets a year and being a premier event venue will require a lot of structural improvements at the racecourse.

“This plan will guide the committee as it searches every avenue for funding opportunities to make this plan a reality.

“With only one month until the Narrabri Races, our focus right now is on delivering to the community our annual race day.”

The Narrabri Races is traditionally one of the largest annual community events held.

Mr Childs said the committee has arranged for the first time a big screen that will be positioned trackside near the finishing post.

“We’ve also got a jumping castle for the kids and live entertainment for a few hours after the last race,” he said.

“The meet will still feature local and interstate bookmakers, canteen and bar facilities.

“We hope to see a good crowd come out and enjoy a day out at the races.”