IT is a feature of the holiday period in the North West but for the second straight year the Wallabadah Cup race meeting will not go ahead.
The annual New Year's Day event is the Wallabadah Jockey Club's only meeting of the year and had to be abandoned in 2020 due to drought, while the 2021 fixture has been scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Punters had been holding onto hope that recently eased COVID-19 restrictions may have granted the event a reprieve.
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However, club president Tim Mackie said the decision to cancel the event, and focus on the 170th anniversary of the race, had come after consultation with Racing NSW.
"It is disappointing to have to cancel for a second-consecutive year, but unfortunately there isn't much we can do about it," Mr Mackie said.
"Racing NSW have been very supportive and along with us were doing everything possible to get the races up and running this year.
"However, while restrictions have eased recently, it is still a bit too much for us to handle putting on this year, so we are turning our focus onto next year, which will be the 170th anniversary of racing in Wallabadah.
"Hopefully, it should be an awesome event and make up for the fact the last two have had to be cancelled because of drought and coronavirus."
The event is the latest in a line of race meetings called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the annual Deepwater races, near Glen Innes.
"There has been quite a few meetings that have gone the same way as us in the past few months," Mr Mackie said.
"No one wants it to happen, especially Racing NSW, because it adds so much character to their yearly racing calendar.
"That's the same reason we opted not to relocate our meeting to a nearby track such as Quirindi or Tamworth.
"Quirindi has it's own meeting on Boxing Day and we don't want to take anything away from them, nor do we want to loose any of the charm that makes our meeting special, so we thought it best to cancel and focus on the 170th anniversary."
Mr Mackie said he was confident the track would have been "in tip-top shape" had the meeting be able to go ahead.
"We've had a fair bit of good rain throughout the year, so I think we would have been right to go," he said.
"However, there isn't much we can do about it, except look to next year and I'm sure our volunteer-run committee will get everything running smoothly."
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