mmg.com.au

New Echuca Racing Club chief executive Alex Doble could not have chosen a bigger stage for his debut meeting at the club.

The two-day Echuca Cup Carnival kicks off tomorrow with a seven-race card beginning at 1.04pm, followed by an eight-race card beginning at 1.20pm on Sunday.

The $70000 Echuca Cup is scheduled for race seven at 4.54pm on Sunday.

Saturday’s feature race is the $20000 Millewa Spa Classic, while the $40000 Shadoways Sprint across 1000m will be run the race prior to the cup on Sunday.

Doble was disappointed there were no locals in the cup’s field of 13, but was very pleased with the quality.

‘‘The cup is an outstanding field. I would’ve liked a few more in the sprint, but we did get the eight runners,’’ he said.

‘‘The cup’s probably the best collection of horses we’ve assembled together in a long time.

‘‘We’ve got quite a number in the sprint and quite a number in the supporting races, but there’s no local representation in the cup itself, which is a shame.’’

Trainer Anthony Freedman is back to defend his 2012 Echuca Cup win with Zubbaya, with five-year-old 2012 Camperdown Cup winner Population in the field.

Population has had three starts since his last spell and won at Caulfield on February 2 and finished second at Morphettville Parks on January12.

Doble said punters were looking at a even cup field.

‘‘It’s an even bunch. They’re very much on the same level as such. It should just be a really competitive race,’’ he said.

Echuca trainer Gwenda Johnstone has two entries in the race-six sprint, Dashing Shadow and Thebarwonprince.

Dashing Shadow ran third three starts ago in December at Moonee Valley, while Thebarwonprince has two seconds at Moonee Valley since being freshened near the new year.

Doble said the club was expecting about 5000 visitors to the course across the two days, with a about 3000 for the cup day.

Tomorrow will be geared towards women, with the traditional Ladies Day kicking off at 11.30am.