![Action from the 2018 race meet. Picture by Tess Brunton Action from the 2018 race meet. Picture by Tess Brunton](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8mt7fPj3AeZSAF4grZ2EUc/757dca68-15a0-45af-a164-bfe84b5c950b.JPG/r0_559_4928_3264_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The North-East Pacing Cup will return to its Scottsdale home on Friday night after a two-year hiatus.
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The event was held in 2021 at Carrick and at Mowbray last year but was last raced in Scottsdale in 2020, with the North-East Pacing Club's president Rod Hill excited to see it back in action.
"I'm over the moon but at the same time a little nervous because four or five months of work goes into this," he said. "All country clubs have the same problem and when it's called off at the last minute [like last year], that's disappointing but the weather is supposed to be pretty good so we are really looking forward to it."
Hill said despite the challenges faced by COVID-19, the event was always looking to be run this year.
"It's a great time of year up here and it's a bit weather-dependent but essentially, the local people look forward to it," he said.
"It's probably not a young demographic up here and so in a lot of ways, it gives some of the older people the opportunity to get out and go and see something that's in the middle of the town."
The card's last race will take place at 8pm, with with races starting from 4pm and buses running from Winnaleah (3.45pm), Derby (4pm), Bridport (4pm) and Branxholm (4.15pm), with bookings essential on 0417 169 644.
Hill explained what sets the Scottsdale track apart from others.
"You're really close to the action - it's a tight track and it's really exciting because it's very difficult to get a big lead," he said.
"That means the racing is close and it's close to the public - the difference between someone and the track is a two-inch piece of pipe that's connected to the track and it's only about 900mm high, so if you hang your head over the fence and a driver comes around the outside with a whip, you want to be ducking."
While there will be plenty of on-track highlights, there will be a lot of action on the sidelines as well.
Tasmanian former AFL star Matthew Richardson will be a guest judge of the fashions on the field (ages 2-8, 9-15 and open) with several food vans, a live band and a tug of war between the Ringarooma Fire Brigade, Bridport Cricket Club and Scottsdale Lions Club.
Hall thanked his committee as well as his loyal group of track workers who have helped behind the scenes setting the event up.
"They've been working up there every day for the past couple or weeks to get the track ready, get the stables ready, get the wash plants and the swab boxes ready," he said.
"You've got to put all of the pylons around the track, set up the finishing post so that Sky can zone in and get the cameras right as well as a full sound system in.
"Even where we start the horses, we've been out there digging and doing all of the underground things with shovels and picks - the team that do that for us and there's only about four or five of them, have done a magnificent job to get the track ready.
"There's a whole heap of things behind the scenes that most people probably don't realise and they have no reason to realise but there's a lot of work.
"We have quite a number of volunteers, the fashions on the field are volunteers and people from outside the club as well, so they do a great job - that's not easy to set all of that up and manage it."
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