David Hunter hopes the weather will be on his side as Fakenham racecourse plans to kick off 2010 in style on New Year's Day. Hunter is clerk of the course at the north Norfolk track and is banking on higher temperatures prevailing for the action to take place over the jumps on Friday afternoon.

David Hunter hopes the weather will be on his side as Fakenham racecourse plans to kick off 2010 in style on New Year's Day.

Hunter is clerk of the course at the north Norfolk track and is banking on higher temperatures prevailing for the action to take place over the jumps on Friday afternoon. 'We've got a good season planned so let's hope we kick off with racing on Friday,' he said.

'It is dependant on the temperatures and the weather so people need to keep an eye out and see what is going on. And providing we are racing, they should come prepared for a winter's day enjoyment - so sensible footwear and keep warm and dry.'

Hunter is expecting a good card and a bumper crowd for the six races which start at 12.40pm. 'Certainly at the five-day stage we've got a good number of horses entered for the six races,' he said on Tuesday. 'At this stage we've got about 137 horses entered in the six races, that'll whittle down, naturally.

'So far, the Queen has a horse entered into one of the races and it'd be nice if that comes along. I expect she'll probably stay up the road at Sandringham, but you never know.

Big plans are afoot for the Fakenham track during 2010, including the return of Arab horse flat racing in June.

'On February 19, we have our popular countryside day with a charity race. This year it's going to be the Countryside and Forces Race Day, where the charity race is going to be raising money for the Countryside Alliance and Help for Heroes and we're going to be waving the flag and supporting country sports and the forces.

'On March 19, we race on the same day as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and that's for the Fakenham Silver Cup and then on Easter Monday, April 5 is our big day of the year, and then we have the two May meetings, finishing on Sunday May 23.

'It looks like we're going to be having an Arab horse race flat meeting towards the end of June.'

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