This Saturday the club transforms itself from running the richest one day of country racing in Australia with $1/2 million dollars in prize money and trophies and two Listed races to running a picnic meeting.

It is the only way that the club can give the district a non TAB Saturday meeting.

However it is the perfect time of the racing year, coinciding with the huge meeting at Randwick which features four Group One races – the Epsom, Metropolitan, Flight Stakes and Spring Champion Stakes.

In fact every race on the program carries black type.

While Kris Lees will be at Randwick watching his champion Samantha Miss in the Flight Stakes he will have one Scone runner, Snowtime, in the Maiden (1100m).

It is the first time that Lees has had a runner at a picnic meeting but he sees it as an opportunity to win a race before the well bred daughter of Royal Academy is hurried off to stud.

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The fields for Scone will only be small but the club never considered pulling the pin on the meeting.

“The committee wanted to give district people an opportunity to attend a Saturday meeting and a picnic meeting was the only way it could be done,” club secretary, Helen Sinclair, said.

“It is disappointing we did not get more nominations but we just have to work with what we have.”

The club received 23 nominations for the five races.

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Local trainers Luke Griffith and Rod Northam will have runners at Scone on Saturday but both will be at Randwick.

Griffith will star With A Chance in the Group Three Craven Plate (2000m) while Northam will run Fashion Street in the Listed Angst Stakes (1400m).

Griffith is searching for a new rider for With A Chance with Hugh Bowman committed to the Chris Waller trained Hurrah.