First held in the 1880s at Wolseley Oval, the carnival is part of the northern polo circuit and is expected to draw teams from around the local area including Quirindi and Tamarang, as well as possibly Scone and North Star.

Gunnedah club treasurer Ben Osborne said it is shaping up to be a good weekend.

"Obviously the dry weather makes it difficult for everyone," he said.

"On the other hand, people are looking for something to do."

"I think they had a pretty strong carnival at Bundella (Tamarang) last weekend and we're expecting to have a strong carnival."

READ ALSO:

The carnival will be held at the club's grounds just off the Oxley Highway and the first chukka will be at 9am both days, with finals getting underway at 1pm on Sunday.

Entry is free and families and picknickers are welcome.

As has been the tradition in recent years during the lunch break there will a junior exhibition game.

"They play a chukka," secretary Renata Davidson said.

"It's to follow on from the junior polo school we held in July."

The club have directed a strong focus towards junior development in the last five or six years, and are starting to see some reward from that.

"We're starting to have the first lot that came through that (school) playing with the adults," Osborne said.

The local team will be hoping to go one better than they did at the Tamarang carnival, where they made it through to the C grade final.

Sam Osborne had a particularly strong carnival and was named the best and fairest player.