The club has not raced since September 26 and it will be the first race meeting since the bushfire scare on the weekend of November 5 and 6.

The actual racetrack was not damaged however some of the infield was on fire and the false rail was bowed by the heat.

The fire came dangerously close to course manager Steve Tapp’s home while he was away in Forster.

There was a scare for Robert Thompson, Jeremy Sylvester and their families as the bushfire approached their homes and stables.

Barrier trials were held on the Cessnock track on November 18 and all is in readiness for the resumption of racing.

It has been a successful calendar year of racing on the popular Cessnock track.

With prizemoney levels increased to $20,000 per race from July 1, 2016 Cessnock has proved to be very popular with Sydney and provincial stables and the quality of the race fields has never been higher.

Hometown hero Robert Thompson will be in action at next week’s Cessnock race meeting and Australia’s ‘winningest’ jockey hopes to add to his record-breaking tally after notching up his 4250th winner at Newcastle recently.

Admission is free for the Cessnock meeting on December 13.

In other racing news, leading Newcastle trainer Kris Lees again praised the worth of his Ellalong Farm property following the win of Upscale at Rosehill recently.

The mare was sent to Ellalong to freshen up prior to her November 26 win.

The 150-acre pre-training and agistment property has had some famous visitors in the few years since Lees purchased the farm including Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist and superstar mare Lucia Valentina.

“The Ellalong Farm has been a great investment and again proved its worth with Upscale,” Lees said.

“I sent her to Ellalong for a week to freshen her up and it did the trick.”

The successful trainer is also a great supporter of racing at Cessnock. He has multiple starters at each Cessnock meeting.