ACT-Queanbeyan trainers have hailed the two-day Canberra Carnival a 'masterstroke' move from Thoroughbred Park, believing it'll attract the nation's best stables.
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Black Opal Stakes Day, Canberra's premier race day, will be spread over two days to form a 16-race carnival and rival the two-year-old races in Sydney.
The group 3 Black Opal will remain on Sunday, while the listed Canberra Cup has been moved to the Canberra Day public holiday.
The overall aims to boost numbers in the Black Opal Stakes field after only seven runners competed in this year's event.
Canberra's feature race has recently competed with the Todman and Reisling Stakes in Sydney for numbers due to their similarity. Trainers have nominated the same horses for both two-year-old races, then picked between the stakes.
Queanbeyan trainer Joe Cleary believes the biggest stables from Canberra and interstate will now target the event.
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"There'll be sixteen races over two days, so they'll have a hell of a lot more horses," Cleary said. "Unfortunately we've been given a massive attrition rate with our main race, the Black Opal, which was the clutch of the two-year-old races in Sydney.
"It's a masterstroke from Thoroughbred Park and they deserve a pat on the back. Now, the biggest stables target the two days and they'll have their horses arrive on the Saturday and stay through to Tuesday. That generates a good, financial turnover for the town.
"I'll obviously be participating with the volume of horses that we've got and we'll be looking forward to it."
Sutton-based trainer Mick Miladinovic said the change will bring back the traditional carnival atmosphere, which has been lost over recent years.
"They'll get full fields but no doubt it'll increase the crowd," Miladinovic said. "One day is too much. There's too many people and it's too busy. I think having it spread over two days is a terrific idea."
Meanwhile Miladinovic-trained horse Gentle Annie ran third in the benchmark 65 handicap (1750 metres) at Thoroughbred Park on Friday.
The five-year-old brown mare ran 2.25 lengths behind Matthew Dale-trained The Senator, while Nick Olive-trained Contaminated claimed the $11,200 prize.
"It's always nice to have a winner but it was a positive run," Miladinovic said.
"The two bays geldings rode home and she was right with them. It was much improved to her last couple of efforts.
"Her race today shows the benchmark is getting closer to where should be."