It's the end of an era at Armidale Jockey Club with long term secretary-manager Jim Dedes calling time on his tenure.
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Dedes is venturing into retirement after 27 years in the role.
Previous Armidale Jockey Club chairman was the catalyst for Dedes landing the gig and he hasn't looked back.
He's had three different chairpersons in that time, giving Dedes and the club a pretty steady run.
"I have been pretty lucky, I have only had three chairmans over the 27 years - John Cannon, Rod Watt and now Joel Weir - so it has been a pretty steady committee and good to work with," Dedes said.
His impact on the club in that time has been felt, on and off-the-track.
Dedes introduced several themed race days which brought crowds through the gate and will continue to do so for years to come.
Some of those are the achievements he is most proud of.
"We started the St Albert's College race day which is always a huge day," Dedes said.
"It is still going.
"We have the Guyra Cup and the Armidale Cups, they are all great days.
"Anzac Day, we have made that a bit of a feature event as well. The Baa Baas, they have come on board.
"We had a big Armidale rugby league reunion here last year, even though the races weren't on, still a lot of people turned up for it."
Events aside, Dedes leaves the club with plenty of fond memories and friendships.
"You meet a lot of friends, I have made a few enemies too but a lot of friends so quite happy with that," he said.
He's also content with the position the club is in financially, leaving it in "a healthy state".
But it hasn't always been smooth sailing.
There's been droughts, storm events and the coronavirus pandemic which hampered race meetings.
Of those, the recent drought, which ended in 2019, was the low point in Dedes' time at the club.
"We lost a lot of meetings through the drought because our track was too hard," he said.
"The droughts and we are still battling here with water when it does get dry. Lately it has been too wet and we lost a lot of meetings."
As for why he's decided to hang up the boots, Dedes said it is "just time for fresh blood, new ideas."
That fresh blood comes in the form of Michael Timbrell who has previously worked at the Lismore Turf Club.
Dedes has been part of the handover process and has offered some words of wisdom to the incoming secretary-manager.
"We are renowned for our hospitality and that is probably one thing I have sort of told him, we like to look after our owners, trainers and strappers," Dedes said.
"Maybe that is the main thing we are renowned for.
"A lot of trainers come up here because we are like that."
The next Armidale race meeting is scheduled for April 15 followed by the Anzac Day meeting on April 25.