Australian thoroughbred racing reconnected with a piece of history from its colonial days as thousands of picnic racegoers converged on a famous western Sydney property on Saturday.

Fernhill Estate, a sprawling acreage an hour's drive from the Sydney CBD, hosted six races on a 2400m racetrack that was restored after the property's new owners moved in last year.

And in the great tradition of picnic racing in Australia, it turned out to be a social event with climbing temperatures ensuring bar areas competed with the local bookies in the popularity stakes with rank-and-file punters.

But a winning post marquee added a genuine corporate feel, no doubt inspired by Fernhill's owners, Brenda Tripp and her husband Simon who made his pile as a merchant banker.

Fernhill lays claim to being the birthplace of two Melbourne Cup heros of the 19th century - Chester (1877) and Grand Flaneur (1880).

Grand Flaneur stood as a sire at Hobartville Stud, the nearby thoroughbred nursery which appropriately races Rainbow Bay, the winner of the first race at Fernhill.

Hobartville's owner Grahame Mapp added to his day when Field Marshall later won a race at Randwick.

In spite of Fernhill's Melbourne Cup connections, only the most optimistic of the owners of the 37 horses racing at Fernhill would harbour first-Tuesday-in-November ambitions.

But at least there was a modern-day link to Australia's greatest race with Bohemian Spirit, bred by the 1997 Melbourne Cup-winning owner Nick Moraitis, winning the main sprint race.

And it also turned out to be a good day for the Ryan family.

Gerald Ryan was among the winners on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington and his son Blake was in the money at Fernhill.

The Fernhill meeting was sanctioned by Racing NSW last month and was run with Hawkesbury Race Club providing administrative support.

"The organisers hope to make it an annual event," Hawkesbury boss Brian Fletcher said.

Racecaller Ray Hadley shared a makeshift tower with stewards but it wasn't always the vantage point it is supposed to be.

Still the Sydney shock jock coped despite not having a semaphore board to cross-reference the results of the finish.

"There's no semaphore board here and I'm not going to climb down to get the numbers from the judge and she's not going to climb up and give them to me," he announced over the on-course PA system.