A revamped racing calendar will see Thoroughbred Park‘s Canberra Racing Carnival condensed into one Super Sunday on March 10, 2024, with Black Opal Stakes Race Day set to become Canberra’s first million-dollar race day.
In a massive coup for the club, the meeting will coincide with the Canberra Day long weekend and shine the light on racing in the nation’s capital.
“We’re really excited to host Canberra’s first million-dollar race day,” said Thoroughbred Park’s Marketing and Sponsorship Manager, Robbie Ringland.
“It’s a big tagline and something we’ll promote heavily.”
Ringland explained the reasoning behind the significant change, with the club hoping to provide patrons with the best possible race day experience.
“The motivating factor to go back to one day was a really successful Black Opal Stakes Day,” Ringland said.
“We had over 7000 patrons, which was our biggest crowd in the better part of a decade, and we felt like the Canberra Cup Day fell a bit flat.
“While it was still a good customer experience designed for families, we felt that the money we could save condensing the two days into a Super Sunday would allow us to invest heavily into making Black Opal Stakes Day even better.
“Plus, as part of that saving, we’ll be announcing a brand new Spring feature in the coming weeks for late November, which is a cool and innovative concept.”
Racing in Canberra has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons, and Ringland said there was much excitement around Thoroughbred Park and what the future holds for the club.
“We managed to get our four Stakes races to at least pre-COVID levels, with the latter two increased even further, which is really pleasing for the club and a strong example of the positive path we are on,” he said.
“There have been a few really big wins for us in the last month or so, with the successful completion of the Acton track, the club signing an extension with SKY and TAB, and our revamped calendar, which includes four Saturday meetings.
“We can also expect more positive news to come, and things are tracking nicely.”
Most importantly, a younger demographic is throwing its support behind the club, and Ringland plans to build on that with off-track entertainment to complement good racing.
“Black Opal Stakes Day is a massive day for us, which is complemented by a really big fashions on the field competition, and of course, a huge crowd,” he said.
“Over 50% of our general admission crowd were females, and over 50% of the crowd was aged 18-25, with a real desire for the young people in Canberra to come out and enjoy thoroughbred racing.”
Canberra’s Acton racecourse track has been another positive talking point, and following the inaugural meeting on the new Polytrack surface on June 23, owners and trainers have given their tick of approval.
The racecourse was used again on July 21, and the club has been delighted with the racing quality and the participant’s positive response.
“The club couldn’t have been happier with how the track was presented and how it raced,” Ringland said.
“A few of the guys would have slept like babies that night after many stressful days getting the track up and running.
“It was really pleasing to see winners dictated by tactics and speed and not bias.”
Canberra race again on Friday, August 4, kicking off their 2023/24 season with a seven-race program.
Moving forward, another race day to lock away into the calendar is the second Hops & Hooves Festival Race Day will be held on Saturday, September 23, 2023.
The Canberra Southern Cross Club Tuggeranong Cup Race Day on Good Friday, March 29, 2024, is also a feature race day.
For more on Thoroughbred Park racing, click here.
