Canberra's racing community sends message to ACT Greens on Black Opal Stakes Day

They flew out of the barriers at the start of Thoroughbred Park's two-day carnival, winning five races on the opening day.

Joseph Jones Racing, Norm Gardner and Keith Dryden all saluted at their home track on Tuesday - the first two winning two races apiece - in front of a massive crowd in Canberra's first post-COVID carnival.

Dryden narrowly missed out on the listed National Sprint (1400 metres) as well, finishing second by a half a length to the Gary Colvin-trained Another One in the first feature race of the two days.

Paul Jones had Zelago win the benchmark 75 handicap (1200m), while Les Goh saluted in the class 2 handicap (1600m).

Amazingly, it was Zelago's third win on Black Opal Stakes Day in the past four years - not racing last year was seemingly the only thing stopping him from making it four in a row.

It also gave a little bit of money back to co-owner John McGrath - the naming rights sponsor of the Black Opal.

Jones was blown away by the atmosphere at Canberra's biggest race day of the year, likening it to the race that stops the nation on the first Tuesday in November.

That's despite the Greens openly wanting to shut down racing in Canberra, while the cost of worker's comp has led to an exodus of trainers heading across the border to save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It's unbelievable. When Les Goh came down the home straight then it was like a Melbourne Cup. Everyone was up and screaming," Jones said.

"There was a fair few locals in it and the owners are pretty loud, but I just thought it was a really, really good atmosphere and the crowd's enjoying themselves, and it's really good."

Gardner's two winners were Miss Ghent in the Riharna Thomson Memorial Handicap (1200m) and Delacour in the quality sprint (1000m).

Miss Ghent was an emergency in the group 3 Opal (1200m), but would've had a run after scratchings.

Her dominant three-and-a-half-length victory had Gardner regretting not having a throw at the $200,000 feature race instead.

But he was over the moon with the day Canberra Racing had put on.

"The Canberra Race Club's been abuzz the last few months since [new chief executive] Darren Pearce came here," Gardner said.

"He's a very viable person - look at what's happened here today. Us trainers are very positive about the future - we've just got a few things to sort out with the workers' comp.

"It just goes to show - we've won most of the races today. We've got a good set-up here. We just want to maintain it."

Dryden's warhorse Handle The Truth went within a whisker of winning his second National Sprint, with the Canberra trainer saying if he'd had a bit more conditioning he would've won.

But the Canberra legend tempered the result by saying it could be his last carnival as a trainer.

"We've got good trainers in Canberra and we've learnt you've got to buy better-bred horses," Dryden said.

"Our facilities are fantastic - we've got swimming pools, walking machines, sand track, a brand new track going in after this weekend.

"If we could get the support of this government, seeing the people here today."

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