The schedule kick starts with the season ­opener on November 7 and will be followed by Sunday twilight on December 6, the Inter City Pace heats on Sunday, December 27, the Inter City Pace final on January 2 before finishing with an Easter Saturday card on March 26.

The allocation, five meetings including three Saturday nights, was the same as Harness Racing NSW awarded to the club last season.

It will be the third successive season Maitland has hosted five race meetings.

The allocation has gradually grown since the club lost regular TAB meetings in 2005.

The Inter City Pace final was held as a one-off event at Maitland Showground  four times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011).

In 2011-2012 the club was awarded two extra dates to accompany the Inter City Pace final, while the heats of the feature series returned home the following year to make a total of four meetings.

In 2013-2014 this increased to five, with the Inter City Pace scheduled for the prime Saturday night slot.

In 2014-2015, the five meetings included three Saturday nights and this will be the same for the upcoming summer of racing.

On the track and Keinbah pair Shane Tritton and Lauren Panella won seven races across two meetings at Newcastle in the space of three days.

Tritton and Panella teamed up on a wet Saturday night to take out the Newcastle Derby with Miss Riviera Belle, who will back up for the Newcastle Oaks this Friday.