Happy birthGai: Autumn Ballet presents 50th Black Opal to Gai Waterhouse

There was also a present in there for jockey Tim Clark, who is quickly becoming the king of the Canberra Carnival with his second Black Opal Stakes (1200 metres) victory.

Autumn Ballet went in as the favourite, despite history saying no horse had ever won an Opal on their race debut.

But she made light work of it, cruising to a two-length victory at Thoroughbred Park on Sunday.

Clark's made a habit of winning the Canberra Cup and was hopeful of repeating his Cup-Opal double of 2017 on Monday.

He's won four Cups and now two Opals since 2016 as he's made himself at home in the capital.

The hoop didn't realise it was Waterhouse's first Black Opal win - given her dominance of two-year-old races around the country.

And she did it in front of a raucous Canberra crowd, with the city getting behind the first post-COVID running of the event - 7124 coming through the turnstiles.

Now Waterhouse can finally sleep at night.

"I was unaware of that, but me riding for the stable over a long period now we've been able to tick off a few firsts together so it's nice to get the Black Opal as well," Clark said.

And given his success it's not surprising it's a race and carnival he circles on the calendar every year.

"Yeah definitely. It's something 4-6 weeks out you're looking and trying to get some horses together and pick out what is heading down this way," he said.

"It's a carnival I love getting down to. I've been fortunate to ride some pretty good horses in the main races down here and she's no exception.

"She's an incredibly talented filly - to come here and do that in her first start in a race it just speaks volumes of her ability.

"And she's going to be a filly that you're going to hear a lot more of."

But the Waterhouse-Adrian Bott stable didn't just win it - they came second as well, with The Years second past the post.

The Snowden's Make A Call was a further length back in third.

Stable foreman Neil Payne wasn't surprised they'd broken a record by producing a winner from a horse running in her very first race.

"Gai's here to break records mate, you know that," he said.

"Gai and Adrian what a terrific partnership and to get this horse to the races to win first-up like this.

"We got the quinella too. The Years run second so that was terrific. Once Autumn Ballet hit the lead at the 100m I cheered for the other horse to run second."

Canberra Racing chief executive Darren Pearce was thrilled with how his first Black Opal turned out.

He'd aimed for at least 7000 on the opening day of the carnival, with the goal of getting past the 10,000 mark by the time Monday wraps up.

Pearce said it gave the club a base upon which to build upon as the industry tries to fight off attacks from the ACT Greens.

The Greens want to kill off racing in Canberra, but the industry showed its strength on Sunday as the community got behind them in return - singing Happy Birthday in the lead up to the 50^th running of the Opal.

"It's a huge success, a great celebration. We wanted to get 7000 - we got there, which is fantastic," Pearce said.

"It's been a great party atmosphere. A lot of compliments on the food and embracing community and using local brands.

"It's just onwards and upwards. This is my first Black Opal as leader so I needed to feel it and live it a bit.

"I can just see a lot of opportunities to keep growing bigger."

Clark will be back for Canberra Cup Day on Monday, where he'll be on board another Waterhouse-Bott horse in Sacramento.

The combine will be not only aiming to do the Opal-Cup double, but win back-to-back Canberra Cups as well.

Sacramento would become just the fifth horse to do so in the process.

"I hope so," Clark succinctly said.

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