The Black Opal Stakes is looking to go international with the Canberra Racing Club trying to lure punters from Singapore and New Zealand and take advantage of direct international flights from racing mad countries.
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Singapore Airlines started flights to Canberra from Singapore and Wellington last year.
It's opened the door for Canberra Racing to team up with Jamison Travel to offer packages to racegoers from the capital cities.
Canberra Racing chief executive Peter Stubbs said they were happy to start small this year and gradually build in the future.
Black Opal Stakes Day has four feature races and boasts almost $900,000 in prizemoney across the day on March 5.
Both Singapore and New Zealand are known for their racing industries, making them the perfect targets to attract racing fans from.
Canberra Racing has teamed up with Yowani Country Club to offer a golf day as part of the package, along with their Thoroughbred Club lunch on the Friday leading up to the race and admission to a marquee on race day.
"We've launched that as a result of the direct flights with Singapore Airlines to Wellington and Singapore," Stubbs said.
"Probably in the first year it would be good to start off smaller and tinker with the tour for future years.
"We won't be disappointed if it's not that successful this year because we'll build on it for next year.
"Racing in both New Zealand and Singapore is very popular so it really fitted in with racing in the ACT and in particular with our feature race meeting."
Stubbs said they'd again bolstered the prizemoney on offer for the Super Sunday on March 5.
The group 3 Black Opal is now worth $300,000 making it an even bigger target for the nation's best young horses who are looking to qualify for the $3.5 million Golden Slipper Stakes - the world's richest race for two-year-olds.
With the perfect two-week gap between the Black Opal and Golden Slipper the former will continue to grow as an ideal lead-up race.
They've also bumped up the cash for the listed National Sprint and Canberra Guineas to $130,000.
"It's certainly one of the races if you win it the prizemoney is enough to get you into the Golden Slipper, there's no question about that," Stubbs said.
"Anyone that needs to get prizemoney to get into the Golden Slipper, the Black Opal will certainly do that for them."
Stubbs was happy with how the synthetic Acton track was coping with track work following its refurbishment and racing will return to it this winter.
Last year Canberra Racing was forced to race on the grass track while the work was done on the synthetic one.
While there's racing at Thoroughbred Park on Friday, it looked more like a pit stop during the week.
Summernats hold their "scrutineering" there every year, carrying out tests to ensure cars are roadworthy ahead of the iconic event.
Stubbs advised punters to enter the race track from the Barton Highway on Friday, with parking arrangements altered.
