The club held its $122,000 Carnival of Cups meeting at the Dubbo Showground Paceway on Saturday, April 11 of this year and attracted pacers from throughout NSW and Queensland.

Wet weather threatened to call the meeting off altogether but organisers continued through the rain to deliver a high-class program, which included dual Inter Dominion place getter Karloo Mick doing a track session between races.

Saturday’s star-studded awards night was dubbed a huge success with more than 350 people celebrating the industry’s achievements with media personalities Greg Radley and Greg Hayes providing wit and humour as the MCs.

The entertainment was non-stop but no doubt the highlight for the Dubbo contingent was being named winners of the prestigious award.

“The cup night may have been dampened with an inch of rain pouring down but it didn’t stop the enthusiasm of the club’s directors and volunteers,” Dubbo president David Wrigley said in his acceptance speech.

“I would like to pay tribute to Dubbo Carnival of Cups promoter Charles Andreas for his tireless work in promoting the event locally, Statewide and nationally, which helped draw the best nine-race program assembled in Dubbo’s history.”

Wrigley also made special mention of Red Ochre organiser Brett Wrigley, whose non-stop phone calls to studs secured many stallion services, which provided the mare’s classic final with $20,000 in prize money that duly attracted a top-quality field.

Wrigley heaped praise on track curator Gary Edwards for his efforts in preparing the track for the cup night, which saw the meeting go ahead and also applauded the tremendous efforts of the club’s volunteers during the rain-soaked cup meeting.

“This award is testimony to the club’s drive forward in the harness racing industry,” he said.

Director Charles Andreas said his job was made easier with the assistance of secretary manager Marge Bradley and director David Ford contributed endless hours.

“It was a great buzz to get the award on Saturday night with fellow directors Jeff Costello and Brett Wrigley on hand,” Andreas said.

“The Carnival of Cups award was for the best overall performance for a TAB club including the promotion, media coverage, sponsorship, race fields, tab pools and crowd figures for the event.

“We may have missed out on the biggest crowd ever in Dubbo due to the one-inch deluge on the night but we obviously ticked the other boxes so it’s very pleasing and the club would like to thank HRNSW for the category and the award.”

Andreas also praised the promotional work carried out by Daily Liberal advertising manager Annissa Shean and sports editor Barry Hildebrandt, plus the support of Ray Core and Angela Clutterbug at radio 2DU/Zoo FM and the Prime TV advertising and sports team.

Eighteen awards were presented on the night, with Leeton taking out the best Carnival of Cups non-TAB meeting.

Karloo Mick missed out on Horse of the Year, which went to three-year-old Captain Joy.

However, Greg Bennett, who drove the nine-year-old gelding to victory in its first start in New Zealand on Monday, won Champion Driver of the Year with 127 wins.