History of the Canberra Racecourse

The Canberra Racecourse is situated in a unique position, as you can enjoy the peacefulness and freedom feel of the country, along with unlimited free parking, as well as only being 5 minutes from the heart of the city. The course is one of a kind in that aspect and will offer an unforgettable racing experience that will leave you yearning for more.

The Canberra Racing Club calls the racecourse its home. The racecourse is designed to provide nothing but the highest level of safety for the horses involved and delivers highly competitive racing. The racecourse is widely known as one of the most unique in all of Australia and the facilities are top of the line, and come in second behind no one. The Canberra Racecourse offers two different tracks, and they both run clockwise.

The Thoroughbred Park course has a total circumference of 1,815 meters, and newly added Action Track has a total track circumference of 1,597 meters. The Action Track features an all weather synthetic track and cost $2.25 million to build, and it hosted its first full race meeting in October 2005 for the Canberra Cup. The Throuroughbred Track features a traditional turf track and allows it offer different types of racing than the Action Track. The Canberra Racecourse hosts many race meetings each year, however the two major races it holds are the Black Opal Stakes and the Canberra Cup Day. The Black Opal Stakes was created in 1973 and features a total prize of $250,000.

The Canberra Cup is an annual race and is held on a Sunday in November. The Black Opal Stakes is a race for 2 year olds with golden slipper aspirations. The best Sydney trainers, the Sydney raiders, have recently started to send their horses to Canberra for its biggest race of the year, which makes for favorable better odds. The Canberra Cup was first held in 1926 on the old Acton track and was won by Spec, who also won the race the following year. There have been two other repeat Canberra Cup victors, Crazy Notion from 1961 to 1962, and Reingard from 1985 to 1986. Trainer Tommy Smith has won a remarkable 6 Canberra Cups.

The Canberra racecourse is located at Randwick Rd, Lyneham ACT 2602. You can reach them by telephone at (02) 6204 0000 and fax at (02) 6241 5697). Getting to the tracks is very easy and is readily accessible via bus. The racecourse has buses that are dedicated to taking you to the track, or you can take the route 56 bus from the city and that will take you right to Canberra Racecourse. Call today and set up and appointment to come explore this wonderful racecourse!

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