It’s a major disappointment for the border-based club.

The Country Championships have been an enormous success over the past three years.

Wagga hosted the first two editions of the titles, with Albury grabbing the event in March this year.

The event facilitated a changed in format for Albury’s successful Gold Cup carnival.

Previously, the two-day format was staged on successive days, Thursday and Friday.

However, the addition of the Southern District Racing Association’s Country Championships qualifier on a Sunday meant the club then split the Cup carnival between that and the following Friday.

Next year’s Racing NSW program has Albury slated to host a meeting on Sunday, March 18, which is likely to be day one of the Cup carnival, with the Gold Cup to follow on the 23^rd.

“They’ve (Racing NSW) given us a Sunday and we’re more than happy to run with that next year,” new Albury Racing Club chief executive officer Mick Wighton said.

“That date (March 18) is yet to be confirmed though.

“If we have to move to the Thursday, we’ll make the most of that as we have in the past.”

Scone will host the Hunter and North West championships qualifier on March 18, so it will be interesting to see if that has any impact on Albury’s meeting.

Albury’s SDRA qualifier was worth $150,000, with home trainer Andrew Dale snaring his biggest win with Lautaro.

The championships are run in seven regions, with the qualifying series to be completed by the wild card meeting at Muswellbrook.

The respective winners and runner-ups automatically qualify for the lucrative Country Championships final at Randwick on April 7.

That prizemoney for the event’s grand final has received a six-figure boost, taking it to $500,000.