A strong international contingent is set to challenge for the $200,000 Canberra Cup in one of the highest-quality fields in the race's recent history.
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Group 1 winner Magic Hurricane from the powerful Godolphin stable is the headline act among 14 overseas runners nominated for Sunday's 2000m feature at Thoroughbred Park.
Twenty-two nominations were received on Tuesday for the Canberra Cup, while 19 of the best two-year-olds have been entered for the $275,000 Black Opal Stakes (1200m).
The John O'Shea-trained Magic Hurricane will be looking to get back on track after struggling for form since returning from a spell.
Having won the $750,000 group 1 Metropolitan at Randwick in October last year, the six-year-old gelding is yet to recapture those heights having finished seventh and ninth in its two most recent starts in Sydney.
Magic Hurricane is one of six Ireland runners that have been nominated along with stablemate Arab Dawn, Award Season, Beyond Thankful, Libran and Sir John Hawkwood.
There also six New Zealand nominations, two from Great Britain and one from France.
Canberra Racing chief executive Peter Stubbs said he was very pleased with the quality of the nominations.
"There are a lot of horses that are chances in the race," Stubbs said.
"They are older stayers and they have all been good racehorses during their careers.
"Magic Hurricane is probably the standout horse in the race.
"We're a listed race at $200,000 compared to a group 1. There's a fair gap in prizemoney, so to get a horse like Magic Hurricane, we're very pleased."
Arab Dawn is on the pace having won the Parramatta Cup at his last start and claimed victory in a race at Royal Ascot last year.
"It's a very wide open race with the 22 nominations," Stubbs said.
"You could possibly make a case for a lot of those in the race."
The Black Opal Stakes has also attracted a quality field as one of the main lead-in races ahead of the Golden Slipper.
Among the leading chances will be Defcon, which ran second in its last start at the group 2 Silver Slipper.
Undefeated colt Dieters, out of the Jason McLachlan stable in Brisbane, Lionhearted, Mount Panorama and Prized Icon will also be expected to be in the mix.
"If we got three or four of those starting we'd be very pleased," Stubbs said.
Canberra-trained runners in the Black Opal include Balonne (Keith Dryden), Fox Tales (Nick Olive), Motime (Gratz Vella) and No When To Hold Em (Neville Layt).
There is also a local flavour to the Canberra Cup, with American Times (Vella), Halfpenny Gate (Dryden) and Landlocked (Joe Cleary) sure to have plenty of support on track.
