With 175 horses and 72 trainers coming to the Forbes Racecourse on August 4, secretary of the Forbes Jockey Club Harvey Elliott says it will be one of the biggest race meetings to date. 

“I think it will be one of our most successful [meets] because of the number of horses we have received,” Mr Elliott said. 

With the total pool of prize money increased to $130,000 for the second year in a row the Forbes Cup has attracted interest from some big names in the industry.

International jockey Noel Callow has recently returned from Singapore and will be riding on Monday and legendary former hoop Kevin Langby will be watching from the sidelines. 

It is also hoped Forbes Jockey Club’s premiership-winning (see separate story) apprentice jockey Catherine Markwort will attend again this year.  

Trainers are travelling from the Hawkesbury, Warwick Farm, Flemington and Canberra but the largest amount of horses will come from Dubbo. 

The cup is expected to draw a sizeable crowd of spectators too.

For the 19th year in a row, the Bankstown Sports Club will be major sponsors and the club will bring 150 people to Forbes in time for the Sunday night Calcutta at the Forbes Services Club from 6pm.

In preparation for the cup, the track has been well groomed by track coordinator Tom Molloy and a new addition to the racecourse will be a bookmaker’s cover, funded by the Forbes Jockey Club, Forbes Shire Council and Racing NSW, which will be officially opened on Monday by Mayor Ron Penny. 

Final acceptances for the Forbes Cup will be taken this morning until 9am and fields for the day will be released shortly after and will be published in a special Forbes Cup feature in Saturday’s Advocate.

Gates to the Forbes Racecourse will open at 11am on Monday and the first event is expected to race off around 12.15pm.