Border bubble not big enough for Canberra racing return

But Canberra Racing chief executive Andrew Clark is still pushing for that to happen on Melbourne Cup Day following further expected restriction easing at the end of October.

The Canberra Times revealed in September the racing club was close to submitting their Territory Plan Variation and Clark said that's now been done.

They'll now undertake the two-year process with the ACT government.

That will take place with some new Canberra Racing board members following Tuesday night's AGM.

Duncan Edghill, Dan Carton and Ian Mackay were all re-elected and they were joined by Canberra trainer Norm Gardner, Nikki Pulford and Ben McAlister - coming in to replace the retiring Keith Dryden and Stephen Heppenstall.

The government has expanded the ACT's border bubble to include Braidwood, Gundagai, Goulburn and Cooma, but given country NSW jockeys travel further afield than that - from Albury out to Wagga Wagga and down to the south coast - they still need exemptions to ride in Canberra.

Clark's already shifted their October 21 meeting to Queanbeyan to ensure it goes ahead, with their next meeting after that on Melbourne Cup Day - November 2.

He's working towards that being their first meeting at Thoroughbred Park since August 6.

"Some additional postcodes were added, but unfortunately for ourselves that won't change a great deal in respect to running race meetings because the jockeys do transition throughout country NSW," Clark said.

"Unfortunately that won't change anything for our next meeting - that's already been transferred to Queanbeyan on October 21.

"We're waiting on the next round of travel restrictions easing, which I think the Chief Minister mentioned would occur in the near future.

"That will be the important one to see whether we are able to run a race meeting on Melbourne Cup Day at Thoroughbred Park. That's definitely our aim."

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Clark will continue to work on their proposed redevelopment of Thoroughbred Park over the next two years, while they also work with the government on the TVP.

It's a long-term project with the rollout expected to be finished by 2035 if it's given the green light.

Clark said they would work on possible scenarios for the redevelopment, which would include about 3200 dwellings as part of the plan that's designed to ensure Canberra Racing's long-term future.

The mixture of residential and commercial developments will allow them to revamp their own facilities as well.

"The TPV has now been lodged so that's now officially in and being considered by the ACT government," Clark said.

"That's a major milestone for our club. We started working on the precinct masterplan in 2018 and to get to the stage that it's now been submitted is a major milestone in the entire project.

"We anticipate the project will be rolled out until 2035, so it is a long-term process for the club.

"Parts like this are major milestones along the way."