Because how good would that be? Queen Elizabeth holding the Canberra Cup up high and Clark sipping tea with the Royal family.

It may be a pipedream, but the fact one of the Queen's horses will likely be running in the Canberra carnival is enough to make you wonder "what if".

"But I don't think we'll see her at the barrier draw in Civic on Thursday," Canberra Racing Club chief executive Clark laughs.

The Queen's Chris Waller-trained Chalk Stream is one of 26 nominations for the Canberra Cup (2000m) on Monday and is part of a remarkable 388 nominations for the 17 races across two days at the Black Opal and Canberra Cup carnival.

It's a significant jump from the 290 horses nominated last year and the quality of runners has also increased, giving Clark and his team confidence about a bumper two days of racing.

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The constant wet weather in Sydney and floods around NSW have forced trainers to reassess their plans a week out from the Golden Slipper with the Rosehill races to be affected by the big wet.

Clark almost fell off his chair when he saw almost 400 nominations. That will be trimmed on Thursday with the final acceptances.

"Our track will be a good rated surface on Black Opal and Canberra Cup days, whereas they'll be racing on heavy tracks in Sydney," Clark said.

"The more horses we can have racing across the carnival is definitely beneficial to us. We're looking to grow this carnival, both on and off the track.

"It's always positive to have plenty of starters and I hope nominations turn into acceptances across the two race meetings.

"Just the overall strength throughout both days of racing is impressive. They're all deep and the quality is there."

There are 29 nominations for the Group 3 Black Opal (1200m), headed by one-time Golden Slipper favourite Queen of the Ball, while the potential National Sprint field is one of the strongest in years.

Melbourne Cup runner Delphi could join the Canberra Cup field and Waller's rising superstar Espiona, tentatively described by some as "the next Winx", has nominated for the Canberra Guineas.

"She looks like she's got what it takes," Waller told The Sydney Morning Herald last month.

"Time will tell. She'll run in a group 1 [Surround Stakes] second-up. And I can compare her to Winx, who at this exact same stage, she lost her way."

All up, the stage is set for a spectacular return to the track in Canberra after two years of crowd restrictions and almost complete silence on race days.

The buzz has been building for the past two weeks after the ACT government lifted crowd density restrictions, Clark saying ticket sales have remained strong for general admission and for hospitality areas.

"It's an exciting opportunity," Clark said.

"The opportunity to have a full capacity crowd is very exciting for the club, the industry and myself.

"Ticket sales have far exceeded where we've been in previous years. The community wants to get back out and enjoy themselves and it will be great to put on an opportunity for them to do that."

But the immediate racing future of Alligator Blood - also nominated for the National Sprint - is yet to be determined, with Racing NSW considering a ban for owner Allan Endresz.

It's likely the the ban would extend to racing in Canberra as well, giving the ACT's close association with Racing NSW.

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