The first Kyle Barnes Memorial will be contested at the track and a number of Dubbo trainers and drivers will fittingly take part.

Barnes passed away after a battle with cancer on March 16 last year, aged 61.

On Friday night, the Kyle Barnes Memorial is one of eight races to be contested at the Dubbo track.

He was involved in the sport in his later years, with his final winner as a driver coming with Artistic Reba in 2013 while daughter Kylie drove his final winner as a trainer, with Cindy Marie scoring at Newcastle in 2015.

Kyle was involved in harness racing in Dubbo and his last winner as a driver was at the Dubbo track with Artistic Reba in 2013.

One of leading hopes into the race is hometown hope Curls Toby.

The Greg Pay-trained gelding endured a torrid time of things but has found form again recently and heads into Friday night’s event after back-to-back wins and two second-placed finishes in his past five starts.

James Sutton will again be in the gig for pay, having driven Curls Toby to victory at Parkes and Dubbo in his past two starts.

Curls Toby will go from gate 10 on Friday night but that shouldn’t hold any great fear for Sutton on Pay after the eight-year-old won from the second row at Parkes last month.

The Shannon Rye-trained Kyalla Stuart is another who heads into the event in winning form.

Another eight-year-old, Kyalla Stuart has wins at Dubbo and Canberra sandwiched by a fifth Parkes in his past three starts.

Both those wins have been recorded in mile rates less than 2 minutes and with Monique Parsons in the gig again, Rye’s hope shapes as one of the main contenders come Friday.

The Cramptons Carpet Three-Year-Old Pace (1720m) later in the night could potentially uncover some contenders for the upcoming Gold Chalice series, one for three-year-old colts and geldings run each year as part of Bathurst’s Gold Crown Carnival.

Nathan Hurst has two hopes in the race with Miss Peroni making just the second start of her career while Call Me Missy will be outside him at gate four.

Rainbow Racer will be hard to beat on debut for Nathan Turnbull.

Previously trained by Ellen Bartley, Rainbow Racer has scored placings at Parkes, Temora and Albury recently and has five placings in total from eight career starts.

The hometown hope comes in the form of the Lex Bramble-trained Tarnished.

Friday night will be the gelding’s first start since April of last year.

Racing starts 5.40pm on Friday evening.