Canberra's looking to cash in on the Spring Racing Carnival boom by shifting their newest feature race into the heart of it.
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The $20 million Everest, the brainchild of Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'landys, is driving a significant gambling turnover boost for the sport.
Called the "man of the golden feathers" by ABC comedic icons Roy Slaven and HG Nelson, Canberra Racing's hoping to sprinkle some of V'landys's gold dust on their 2024 racing calendar.
They've applied to Racing NSW to shift their newly formed $250,000 Canberra Community Chest to Caulfield Cup Day to sit in between The Everest and the Melbourne Cup on the calendar.
The inaugural running of the Chest will be at Thoroughbred Park on November 25 and will also provide a $50,000 boost to 12 charities.
But Canberra Racing chief executive Darren Pearce said moves were in place to bring that forward to sit at the heart of the spring carnival.
V'landys formed an alliance with the Melbourne Racing Club this year to get the best out of both The Everest and the Caulfield Guineas, which were run on Saturday in NSW and Victoria respectively.
![Canberra Racing wants to shift their newest feature race to the heart of the Spring Racing Carnival. Picture by Dion Georgopoulos Canberra Racing wants to shift their newest feature race to the heart of the Spring Racing Carnival. Picture by Dion Georgopoulos](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/reqbnGrLXyZFax2TwSi3Na/574ee562-b6a4-46c6-bb31-076c3aba964a.jpg/r0_160_3438_2093_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He said it was not only driving increased revenue in those two states, but all around Australia.
V'landys urged other the other states and territories to get in on the act and make racing the centre of the attention in spring.
Pearce was at Randwick for The Everest and said it was "just wall-to-wall fun".
"What Peter says makes perfect sense - in having a celebration of racing after football and before cricket when racing is the talk of the nation," he told The Canberra Times.
"The example of what's been achieved on Everest Day with the Melbourne Racing Club, the ATC and Racing NSW working together is a real pride point for racing.
"Our ambition here is to have the Canberra Community Chest as our spring showcase.
"We're launching it this year on November 25, but our ambition for next year is to adjust the dates and have it fall in that window between The Everest and Melbourne Cup.
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"We've started discussions with Racing NSW around that."
Traditionally, Canberra hosts races on Melbourne Cup Day - their biggest attendance of the year outside of Black Opal Day.
They'll look to keep that race day, with the Community Chest to be run on the same Saturday as the Caulfield Cup in the lead-up.
Pearce hoped this would become Canberra Racing's spring equivalent to the $250,000 Black Opal, which will be held on the same day as the Canberra Cup next year - March 10.
"Hopefully next year we can have a Saturday and Melbourne Cup Day to showcase the best of what we do in the racing highlight window," Pearce said.
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