Pick me: Moves to make Canberra destination of choice

The news comes as the ACT government approved their application to increase capacity to 3000 for the Canberra Carnival on Sunday and Monday.

It means all of Thoroughbred Park's members, as well as all the owners of runners, will be able to attend the two-day meet.

Traditionally, both the $250,000 Black Opal and Canberra Cup have lost runners to the meet in Sydney the previous Saturday.

But Canberra Racing chief executive Andrew Clark said they'd introduced a full program of two-year-old races in the lead-up to the Black Opal to not only encourage Canberra runners, but to also help the young Sydney runners get used to the track and travel.

Hopefully that will lead to a pay-off when trainers and owners are choosing between the Opal and the Todman and Reisling Stakes, or the Cup and the Randwick City Stakes.

Clark said nominations, which close Tuesday 11am, were on a par with previous years.

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"There'll always be issues with a two-year-old lead-up in some guise, given how many lead-ups occur in the metropolitan area heading into the Golden Slipper," Clark said.

"We've taken measures to minimise that. I'll wait till acceptances [on Thursday] to see whether that's deemed a success or otherwise.

"Interestingly we've run a two-year-old [race] at each of our meetings except one since mid-November.

"[That should lead to] more local horses nominating and more Sydney horses getting experience at Canberra and the trip away. It's designed to encourage them to come back as well."

Clark said the increased capacity would be a good reward for members who have struggled to attend races due to COVID-19 restrictions.

"It's fantastic to give back to our members in this fashion," he said.

"The members have been very understanding during what's been a difficult year for them - not being able to attend under the same circumstances they have previously."

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