LIGHT banter and the occasional belly laugh filled the air as a handful of turf club members got to work yesterday afternoon.

After hosing and wiping down a large number of chairs, the group will be busy for the rest of the week finalising preparations for the annual Warwick Cup this weekend.

Nominations for the race closed yesterday morning and turf club president Jim Costello said he was pleased with the number.

"All in all we've got 138 nominations," he said.

"Of those, 39 have nominated for the Cup. That's a big number.

"I can't remember any bigger in previous years."

The 138 needs to be whittled down to 82, the maximum number Allman Park can accommodate.

This task will be performed by Racing Queensland, who, after the acceptances on Thursday, will look at the ratings for each horse.

The ratings are based on each horse's racing history, including their prizemoney and current form.

Mr Costello said the highest rating horse to nominate was Pepperwood.

"He is a good sprinter," he said.

"A horse from one of the top trainers in Queensland, Tony Gollan, (has also nominated).

"It won the Group Two sprint at Flemington in Melbourne on Sunday.

"There's a fairly good contingent there. We'll see whether they're selected or not but it's a good start."

Nominations have come from much of south-east Queensland and include some from local trainers like Terry Catip, Les Clarke and Tony Skinner.

The gates open for Warwick Cup at 11.30am on Saturday and the first race is at 12.35pm.