The best Melbourne Cup party may not be at Flemington, but in the bush.

Wentworth, population 1200, expects more than 1000 people at its once-a-year race meeting on Tuesday.

"It has everything Flemington has except a line-up for the loos," Wentworth Racing Club Secretary Breeon Cole says.

Known as the gateway to the outback, Wentworth sits where the Murray and Darling rivers meet on the NSW-Victorian border.

Here racegoers trade canapes for BYO picnics, horses gallop on a red dirt track and there's usually more flies than people.

Cole says temperatures are predicted to reach 38 degrees on Tuesday.

"I think the bar will do very well," she said.

Wentworth is one of many small race clubs across the country that hold meetings to coincide with the Melbourne Cup.

This year, some 16 race meetings are planned in NSW, Queensland will host 14 and seven are set down for Victoria.

Cole says people travel for hundreds of kilometres for the annual event, coming from the Riverland in South Australia, Adelaide, Broken Hill and even Melbourne.

Punters travel by boat, plane, four-wheel drive or simply bush-bash to pack out the local showground for the five-race card.

If Wentworth was founded on the other side of the Murray River, locals would get the day off like many of their Victorian neighbours.

But like true punters, they knock off early anyway.

"Most businesses in town work the half day because obviously it isn't a public holiday for us," Cole said.

It's a big event on the town's social calendar where people can spread a blanket, catch up, and even get married.

"We actually had a wedding at our race day two years ago," Cole said.

"A couple that runs the local bakery, (they) love going to the races and had a big marquee on the day."

The club has been racing for more than 150 years, but was on the verge of folding six years ago.

Cole said since then they've slowly turned it around.

"We only have a very small budget, and we hope to get a lot more support this year to see it stay for many years to come," she said.