"A lot of teams are coming up from the South Island so it is going to be good," Mr Fritz said, adding that the handful of Hawke's Bay-based teams may have the edge in that they have seen the 5.4km track at the winery estate.
"There are ups and downs and it's mix of gravel and grass as well as going up the vine rows, so it's going to be good and challenging for the dogs and the mushers," he said.
The "mushers" are the drivers of the sleds. These are not, of course, the traditional sleds the Siberian huskies and Alaskan malamutes are well known for pulling across snowy terrain.
There are four classes in the generally snowless terrains of New Zealand.
The rigs are three-wheeled "sleds" and can be pulled by up to six dogs while the scooters run only one or two dogs.
There is also bike joring (the dogs pull a bike) and the canicross, where the musher also runs with them.
Mr Fritz said with just three years of competition behind him he was a baby in the sport.
But he loved the chance to get the five huskies together and enjoy the competition and company, although there were occasional cross words with his partner.
"The only time we argue is when it comes to choosing which dogs we want to race," he said with a laugh.
"The dogs absolutely love it - when you snap the harnesses on it's like flicking a switch - they just go for it."
The youngest in his family of huskies is just six months old and still six months away from being able to join his racing mates.
"We take him out and when he watches the others he just howls - he wants to get out there with them."
Mr Fritz said Linden Estate had pulled out the stops to help the club stage the event, and if spectators wanted to rug up and check it out they were very welcome.
From the top of the hill the entire course could be seen.
The temperature "requirements" of the four-legged race machines is why the Friday race is being staged around 4pm, when sunny skies and forecast 18C temperatures will have cooled off.
They race again at 7am on Saturday and Sunday.
