Eight races are scheduled for the day, with the Good Friday Country Discovery Race Day Maiden Plate first off the block at 1.15pm.
A 1200m sprint, the plate 18 horses, including three-year-old filly Flattered, which is trained by 2015 Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne and her brother Patrick.
The second race of the day, the Echuca Isuzu four-year-old plus Maiden Plate, is the same distance as the first race and will feature a few local names, including Rhys Archard and Gwenda Johnstone.
The pair of trainers will have two stakes in the 18-horse field with Archard-trained Elegant Man and Pendella in the mix along with Johnstone’s Just Rich Lika and Commanding Shadow, the latter of which will be ridden by apprentice jockey Sam Kennedy.
Archard will also have four-year-old mare Sandwina in the third race, the Workerlocker Echuca BM58 Handicap.
Race four will be a true 1000m sprint that will feature two Johnstone horses, Brazen Shadow, ridden by local jockey Rose Hammond and Bon Shadow.
Races five, the Echuca Toyota BM64 Handicap, and race six, the Bet365 VOBIS Gold Eldorado, will be 1200m runs and will be the preamble to the marquee race of the day.
The Moama Bowling Club Echuca Cup will be the penultimate run of the day and will jump at 4.55pm and will feature international imports such as eight-year-old bay He’s Our Bonneval from the United Kingdom and six-year-old gelding Rhinoceros from New Zealand.
The final race of the day will be the 1400m O’Connors Case IH BM64 Handicap and will see Johnstone’s Gunbower Cup winning gelding Cadazio try to claim a win.
Echuca trainer Gwenda Johnstone was looking forward to the meeting, particularly after having success on Echuca Cup day in the past.
“It is a constructive meeting, we have won the cup and run second before, so it is always a great day for us,” she said.
“We are really excited to come back again and should hopefully get some good results in Echuca.”
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