Canberra Racing Club launches $1 million race day in major race changes

Chief executive Darren Pearce unveiled the new structure on Tuesday, booking more Saturday events and turning back the clock to have the Black Opal and Canberra Cup run on the same bumper day.

Pearce says it is part of a wider vision to improve the Canberra racing scene and reinvigorate support after years of racing on Friday had seen track numbers drop away.

Prizemoney for marquee races is also set to be increased and returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, with the Black Opal and Canberra Cup up to $250,000 and the Canberra Guineas and National Sprint getting a significant boost.

The prizemoney jump will contribute to a blockbuster 10-race schedule for the premier day of the year after experimenting with split Opal and Cup days over the past four years.

Instead of being run on the Sunday and Monday of the Canberra Day long weekend, all races will be combined into one day on March 10 next year.

"I've been here for nine months and we've made some good strides forward," Pearce said of the changes. "But I've only just started, I'm only getting warmed up.

"It's all about growth. It's all about connection to the community and giving our members and our sponsors and partners better experiences on race day.

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"We've redone the Acton track, we're doing a major renovation on the course proper, we've built a new owners and trainers lounge ... we're investing in a whole range of initiatives. My focus is growth and being here for the long term, having the best connection to the community we can and creating new fans of racing."

The Black Opal and Canberra Cup have been run on the same day previously, but it was decided to split them in an attempt to attract two different audiences.

There were more than 10,000 punters at the track across the two days this year, but 7000 of those were there on the Sunday for the Black Opal before crowds dropped away on the public holiday Monday.

"Being straight up, we just think Monday wasn't working as well as the one-day carnival," Pearce said.

"There's a lot of competition for families on the Canberra Day public holiday. We did it over three years and we gave it a good chance but it didn't do as well as the Sunday.

"We've learned from that and we're just going to make it a 'Super Sunday' and Canberra's first million-dollar race day with a 10-race card.

"By not having the Monday it means we've got more to invest in the Sunday and make that bigger and better than ever before. That's what we'll do."

The club has also been negotiating with Sky Racing and Racing NSW to shift some of its regular meetings from Friday to Saturday. They have successfully secured four Saturday slots in November and January.

The changes will also include a new feature race event for spring.

"It's taken a few months to coordinate and negotiate ... it's quite a complex animal," Pearce said.

"The reasoning behind it all was to have deeper connections with the community and grow our commercial program. Fridays are great and we enjoy that, but it means people at work or with families can't come. It limits opportunities.

"So to have four Saturdays is a boon. It gives us an opportunity to create four signature race days."

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