How Canberra's horses fared at the Black Opal barrier draw

His two-year-old gelding Love Shuck drew barrier 17 on Thursday - the widest gate possible for the group 3 Black Opal Stakes (1200 metres) at Thoroughbred Park on Sunday.

That will come into at least barrier 14 once scratchings are taken into account, but it's still not great.

Smart said ideally they would've drawn in the first eight.

He has one of Canberra's three hopes in the $200,000 feature race, along with Gratz Vella's Chop The Ice (barrier 10) and Norm Gardner's Miss Ghent (three), which was one of the three emergencies.

The Hawkes-trained Limburg has already been scratched after drawing barrier 14, with the colt also in the field for the group 3 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday.

While Smart would've preferred a barrier closer to the middle of the field, he said the outside gate - also known as the carpark - was better than being hemmed in on the rail with barrier one.

The width will allow Love Shuck ($31) to settle wherever he's comfortable and then look to chase the leaders home from there. And he loves chasing.

The son of Mikki Isle's coming off his maiden win, having saluted on debut at Albury two weeks ago.

"It's not a total disaster," Smart said.

"I would've loved to draw inside eight. If I was going to say one or eight I would say eight.

"He's a horse that needs a bit of room. He has done a few things wrong.

"He won the other day at Albury. He was a little bit slow out, mustered speed, went to the lead.

"It's probably not how we want to ride him. We just want to ride him wherever he's comfortable. He's a horse that loves chasing down horses.

"I'm really happy because there's going to be a fair bit of pressure inside, whereas he's going to be sitting back, wherever he's comfortable and letdown the outside."

Smart was expecting Love Shuck to improve off the back of his win at Albury, plus he was thrilled with his trackwork on Tuesday.

He's opted for Jay Ford to take the ride - hoping his experience would pay off in the group 3 race.

"His work on Tuesday suggests he's ready to go. His work Tuesday was one of the better pieces of work I've seen any horse do on the course proper," Smart said.

"He worked with an older horse and had his measure quite easy. I'm going in quite happy with the horse."

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Autumn Ballet's the $2.80 favourite (barrier seven), while their The Years ($4.40, barrier eight) was also well fancied.

Smart also expected Bjorn Baker's duo - Disneck ($21) and Legolas ($13) - to be in the mix.

The duo were also in the field for the Pago Pago, but have been scratched.

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"I think Gai Waterhouse's horse The Years has trialled up really well, ran really well. You'd think it would go forward and be hard to beat," Smart said.

"You've got Legolas and Disneck up there as well. But don't worry our horse is going good enough if we get the right run."

Love Shuck's just one of two horses in the Black Opal field that were bought for less than $10,000.

He cost just $6000, while Chop The Ice was bought for $8000.

In contrast, the Chris Waller-trained Cap Ferrat ($21) cost $1.4 million at the Inglis Easter yearling sales last year.

"We bought him for $6000. Not many would be under $10,000," Smart said.

"It's just a big thrill for all our owners here in the race. It's a great day. There's nothing better.

"You wouldn't think you'd buy a six-grand horse and all of a sudden second start [you're] in a group 3."

Meanwhile, Zeyrek - the $3.80-favourite for the Canberra Cup (2000m) on Monday, drew barrier 13, while the winner of last year's Cup, Sacramento ($4.40), drew 10.

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