A formal submission for the long-term extension has been lodged with Wodonga Council which must support the public holiday to justify the Victorian Government gazetting the date.

The public holiday moved from Melbourne Cup day to the late November timeslot for the first time in 2014.

It was initially approved for three years before an application for a five-year extension was rejected by council in favour of a further two years.

Racing Wodonga general manager Tom O’Connor said the event had continued to grow and deserved a longer term commitment.

“The club is very comfortable with the progression and growth of the cup meeting for the city,” he said.

“We’ve spent a lot of resources obtaining independent analysis on the impact on Wodonga of cup day.

“It is critically important we have that sort of independent data and information to support the case for the public holiday.”

In 2016, council staff recommended the public holiday revert back to Melbourne Cup before council voted 5-1 in favour of a two-year extension.

Racing Wodonga has engaged consultants to carry out economic impact statements for the past two years.

Among the key findings were last year’s attendance of 8059 people was 15 per cent up on 2016 and 241.5 per cent up on the 2013 crowd figure.

Last year’s event created 110 casual roles which is a 323 per cent rise since 2013.

Wodonga Council confirmed the five-year extension bid is likely to be debated at the May meeting.

Albury Racing Club has had a long-standing half-day holiday for its cup meeting, but has dropped the Thursday-Friday carnival the last two years which has been with negative response from some industry participants.

A poll on social media revealed following last week’s Gold Cup revealed 75 per cent of respondents were in favour of the two-day carnival being resurrected.