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The Adaminaby Jockey Club's cup meeting on Saturday fell victim to what has been described as "blizzard-like" conditions.
In what has NSW administrators searching their record books, snowfalls have forced a country club to cut short its once-a-year meeting.
The Adaminaby Jockey Club's cup meeting on Saturday fell victim to what has been described as "blizzard-like" conditions.
Senior NSW racing officials said they could not recall the last time a meeting was affected by snowfalls, especially in November.
"You could almost certainly say it is the first time it has happened at this time of the year," Racing NSW public relations manager Mark Brassel said.
"As for snow causing a meeting to be called off, tracks like Bathurst and Orange come to mind as well as Armidale but I'm not sure if it has happened before."
As a cold front hit the southern parts of NSW, Adaminaby, located half-way between Cooma and Tumut on the Snowy Mountains Highway, felt the full brunt of the sudden change.
"When I arrived at the course the track was coated white with snow ... I've never seen anything like it before," Craig Yeo, chairman of stewards for the south eastern region said.
"I honestly thought we would be a hundred to one chance to race.
"But it cleared up after half an hour and there was dust was flying off the track when the first race was run.
"How you get dust after a blizzard, I don't know."
Further snow falls after the third race, followed by hail and then heavy rain eventually sealed the meeting's fate.
"In the end it was just like an ice skating rink on the home turn and I had to call the meeting off," Yeo said.
"It might be the first race meeting ever in NSW to be cancelled because of snow."
Temperatures at the track plummeted to four degrees but 70kmph winds promoted a windchill factor that made beanies and overcoats the preferred fashion choice for the day.
Adaminaby president Jim Madden said it was left to the locals to support the meeting because out-of-town racegoers, including two bookmakers, found driving conditions too hazardous to make the trip.
"Our gate was down about 40 per cent but the hardy mountain people still turned up," Mr Madden said.
He said club stalwarts remembered snow falling during previous meetings.
"Our secretary Mr Russell is 72 years old and he can recall being about five (years old) when there was snow," he said.
"Obviously it can get cold here in the best of times but seldom does it snow in November."
Ironically, after the 2007 meeting was cancelled because of equine influenza, this year's date was brought forward by a week.
"We have traditionally raced on the last Saturday in November but there was a change in programming this year," Mr Madden said.
"After what happened last year with the horse flu I was just hoping we could get through and at least run the Cup but it wasn't to be."
At the opposite end of the thermometer, it's not uncommon for race meetings to be called off because of extreme heat.
Several years ago, a Hawkesbury meeting was abandoned when the temperature soared to 44 degrees while in 2005 jockeys refused to ride in oppressive heat during a Gosford New Year's Eve fixture.
Adaminaby racecourse is used to its share of fame.
It featured in the Australian film Phar Lap when depicted as the Agua Caliente racecourse in Mexico, the scene of the legendary galloper's triumph in an international race.
