Canberra Racing Club releases more tickets for Black Opal Stakes Day

An additional 162 tickets for Canberra's premier racing event were made available to the public on Monday, likely being the last batch before the remaining hospitality bookings closed.

Thoroughbred Park's two member-only areas were sold out for the March 7 Black Opal Stakes, while there was still availability across all areas for Canberra Cup day.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Thoroughbred Park was allowed 4000 racegoers across the two-day carnival - with a maximum of 2000 per meet.

The club has reserved 370 tickets for horse owners on each of the days and those would be released from acceptances, which take place the Thursday before the carnival.

With one-third of last year's crowd to attend, Thoroughbred Park chief Andrew Clark said knowing their capacity helped them plan for the carnival with restrictions in mind.

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"We're trying to create as normal as race-day environment for those 2000 people who will be there," Clark said.

"We'll have more security guards assisting us as COVID marshals and the like, there'll also be more cleaners on site to assist with that side of things.

"There'll be spacing between the bars, and the social distancing requirements will be taken care of.

"For those 2000 people, we want to create as normal Black Opal Day as you can in a COVID-safe way.

"The same will be for families on the Monday, we'll still have family entertainment - it'll just be in a COVID-safe manner and trying to give people the best experience we can with the restrictions we're adhering to."

Clark was expecting a strong contingent of local horses after pleasing results in the two-year-old races so far this season.

"Norm Gardner, for instance, has had a couple of winners so it's good to see some local horses perform well. I anticipate they'll push on towards the Black Opal," Clark said.

"I'm confident the racing side of the day will hold up across the carnival."

Friday's meet at Thoroughbred Park would mark the first since the ACT lifted all travel restrictions to Sydney, with Cumberland LGA no longer considered a hotspot.

Clark was looking forward to welcoming trainers back to Thoroughbred Park and said the relaxation of border bans had "certainly made things a bit easier for us".

"It's also good for our trainers as well, it was quite a juggling act when they were taking horses into Sydney as to how to manage that process," Clark said.

CANBERRA CARNIVAL: March 7-8 at Thoroughbred Park.