DUBBO Turf Club has fallen victim to the elements on countless occasions over the past few years, and when stewards inspected the racecourse ahead of Friday's planned eight-race TAB program it appeared that was going to happen again. A total of 22mm of rain hit Dubbo on Thursday afternoon and evening, leaving surface water on a patch of the track between the 850m-700m marks and officials were left with no choice but to postpone the meeting early Friday morning.

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But the cancellation of Saturday's meeting at Lismore left a slot available, and Dubbo Turf Club general manager Vince Gordon was only too happy to jump in.

"Racing is the backbone of the club and we've lost too many meetings over the past few years," Gordon said.

"To pick up a meeting a day after we were postponed is amazing. We were only a smidgin off racing today (Friday) but with 24-30 hours of clear weather the track will have a chance to absorb that rain we had.

"The vibe is still very positive. We're going to give the trainers a chance to run their horses and the jockeys and owners are still winning money so it has all worked out well. It's unfortunate for Lismore but it's good for us."

With the race meeting now going ahead on Saturday, a planned racing industry lawn bowls day set down for Dubbo City Bowling Club has had to be postponed.

Once of the organisers of the bowls day is central west chief steward Todd Smith, who said the fundraising event will now likely be held in August.

"We've had to call off the bowls but it's good for the industry that we can still run this meeting," Smith said.

"The next available weekend where we don't have any racing in our area isn't until August so we will probably look at doing something then.

"The quick rain that came on Thursday night just didn't have a chance to run off the track by Friday morning, but I would expect that by the time we start racing on Saturday the track will be rated about a Heavy 9.

"If we don't get any further rain I would expect the track to improve a fair bit. It will still be wet but it won't be a bog."

Race times for the revised Saturday program have been altered, with the first race at 11.41am and the last scheduled for 4.09pm.

Fields, form and selections appear on page 24 of today's Daily Liberal.