The group one Regional Championship final and the Wagga Pacers Cup are part of a big meeting set for May 23.

However a late switch to make the meeting a night time affair has raised concerns.

The inaugural Regional Championships, the first group one race of any code in the city, was forced to be held behind closed doors due to coronavirus restrictions last year.

Plans for another strong crowd in the Sunday afternoon time slot were the place before the late change.

Harness Racing NSW chief executive John Dumesny revealed programming with Sky Racing was the main factor behind the decision.

The change allows for the meeting to be broadcast on Sky1 rather than Sky2.

"When we have races such as these we need to have them exposed to the best audience," Dumesny said.

"The best audience, which is very closely followed by wagering turnover, is Sky1."

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Among the concerns was the event backing into the start of the work week.

Dumesny did not rule out changing the usual structure of feature races in an attempt to make it more family friendly.

"It's all a work in progress and we could have had it on Sky1 on the Friday afternoon but we didn't think was conducive to attracting crowds so this is where we are aiming at," he said.

"Potentially you won't see a traditional format of a race meeting, where the feature races are towards the end of the program.

"Taking into consideration it is a working day the next day that is where we go with it."

The first race is expected to start around 5pm.

Dumesny hopes the promotion of the meeting will ensure its success following on from the club's Easter Sunday feature meeting.

"It's a bit like Easter Sunday wasn't going to be a big crowd but it did come along," he said.

The first round of heats will be run next Friday night.

It follows on from Wagga's biggest event of the year - the Wagga Gold Cup.

Nominations close on Tuesday.

The second round of heats will be run on May 14 before the $100,000 on May 23.

Dumesny also revealed a change of date for the Riverina Championships next year.

Two group ones were held in front of a strong Easter Sunday crowd this year.

However the club has been given the Easter Saturday date, April 16, for the four and five-year-old features.

Meanwhile Leeton hosts a strong eight-race card on Friday.

The first race is set to start at 12.57pm.