Weather can be a cruel beast but last weekend it finally showed kindness to the Shoalhaven City Turf Club.
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After missing out on hosting the past two years as a result of washouts, Nowra was finally rewarded with hosting the second heat of the NSW Country Championships on Sunday afternoon.
"For the first time in three years it was sun, not darkness. It was such a relief," said Club CEO Paul Weekes.
"We ended up getting a really good crowd here, between 1500 to 1700 I'd say. The joint looked really good and it was just great to see everyone's hard work pay off."
Locals from Nowra and attendees from across the state all came dressed to impress with the day's events and the races themselves all getting fantastic feedback.
The Country Championships were created to support and promote NSW racing in country areas and consists of seven races, each held at a club representing one racing region within the state.
Each heat is worth $150,000 in prizemoney.
According to Mr Weekes "it's a great honour" to be the host of one of these heats, so for Nowra and local country racing in general the event was a really big deal.
"On the racing front it was a really great day, the heat was very strong, a real nail-biter," he said.
Fourteen thoroughbreds took part in the 1400m event with Braidwood gelding Testator Silens prevailing in a closer affair over To The Nines, which was an amazing win for the horse and it's trainer Luke Clarke.
"It's a pretty strong and competitive heat and to get the winner coming out of Braidwood was just great. It's always fantastic to see a smaller establishment secure a victory...for a winner to rise from a smaller environment like that was just super, " Mr Weekes said.
The four-year-old Testator is off to an incredible start to his racing career winning five of it's first six starts.
Last year's country championship final winner Art Cadeau comes from the same region.
Trainer Luke Curry will surely be hoping that his young star can follow in the same hoovesteps in April at the finals.
In the current odds Testator Silens is the joint second favourite to take home the win at Randwick come later this year.
Off the back of such a strong event Mr Weekes is excited about the future of racing in Nowra.
"It was a great day for the club and seeing the town sort of rally and get behind the day was super rewarding," he said.
"We've got even better racing down the track for people to get excited about. It just bodes well to get people back here and put on a show. Getting the community together is always important and I'm excited about the rest of the year."
Testator Silens and To The Nines will race in the finals at Randwick in April with both looking to secure the $500,000 grand prize.