Therefore, the owners of the eligible horses have not surprisingly been on tenterhooks for the last few weeks in the approach to the publishing of today’s final field and declarations.

The decision on who will run rests with Gold Circle’s Racing and Marketing Executive Graeme Hawkins and Phumelela’s racing Executive Patrick Davis, who accept input from the chief handicapper Roger Smith.

A log has been published continuously over the last few weeks. However, it looks likely that the only hope for owners of horses who are outside the top 18 on the current log lies with horses above them being scratched as last weekend’s results did little to alter any positions.

A field of 16 will face the starter and there will be two reserve runners.

The criteria for acceptance does not rest solely with merit rating as there can also be judgement calls made on distance and surface suitability. The surface is only usually taken into account if a horse has an obvious preference for one or the other or in the situation where two horses are hard to separate in which case the one with the superior turf performance will likely be chosen.

Furthermore, the fillies are given a 2,5kg allowance, so they can be chosen ahead of males with higher merit ratings.

The Charles Laird-trained Rich Girl and the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Silver Class are in first and second places on the log respectively, which is interesting as both trainers have won the race with a filly before, Laird (pictured) doing it with Hollywoodboulevard in 2010 and Janse Van Vuuren achieving it with Winter Star last year.