Twenty-three go to post in what looks like a typically competitive renewal of this year's Victoria Cup (Heritage Handicap) at Ascot but what do connections think of their chances?
Clive Cox will be hopeful 2021 winner River Nymph can double up in the race and here's what he had to say.
"He's very much a favourite on course and distance. Horses for courses. Conditions should be very suitable for him, so I'm very hopeful he can give a usual good account of himself over this course and distance."
Cox also runs Kingdom Come, who faces a further 7lb hike in the weights having rattled up a hat-trick of seven-furlong all-weather wins at Kempton last outing.
"He's a horse who ran well at Doncaster on the turf in September. He wasn't beaten far, and that race has worked out well, so I am very much looking forward to seeing him on the turf again," he said.
"I hope he can translate that good run of form from the all-weather.
"I think gelding him has put him in the right direction and he's enjoying his racing. He is a horse who will hopefully continue in a good vein of form, and I hope we don't get any more rain from his point of view."
Eve Johnson Houghton's stable star Accidental Agent will look to go one better than last year. The now nine-year-old won the Queen Anne Stakes in 2018 and trainer Johnson Houghton's said:
"He's in great form. He has spent most of his time in the pen since he ran last weekend. I don't think he loves the ground, but he copes with it. He loves Ascot and he does what he wants to do – much like his trainer! If he wants to run well, he'll run well."
Ropey Guest often struggles to get his head in front but is a regular in these prestigious handicaps. The six-year-old finished fifth in last season's Bunbury Cup and filled the same spot in this contest last year.
Trainer George Margarson said: "He has a good opportunity".
"[Claimer] Callum Hutchinson has switched to ride Richard Fahey's (Zip) as he thought we would get balloted out, which is a pity from a weight perspective, but John Egan rides and he rode him in the race last year.
"He was a shade unlucky in the Buckingham Palace and he always runs well in this race every year, but we've always been drawn wrong. Drawn four this time, on this ground, should be an OK draw.
"He has been trained for it. I didn't want to give him a prep run, because firstly I didn't want to get him beat and he'd go down 2lb and he wouldn't get in, and secondly, I didn't want him to win and get a penalty!
"He's ready and while he doesn't win very often, he deserves to win a race like this."
International handicap winner Fresh loves it here at the Berkshire venue and connections will be expecting a big run from last year's fourth.
Trainer James Fanshawe seemed happy with the two-time course and distance winner and had this to say: "We are drawn in the middle, and we can make up our mind where want to go".
"He loves the straight course at Ascot and has a really good record there. He likes ease in the ground and has had that run at Kempton, but it is whether this very testing ground at this stage of the season might find him out."
Newmarket-based trainer Marco Botti saddles the progressive Rainbow Fire, who won a seven-furlong handicap at Haydock last month and Botti seems optimistic of a bold show from his five-year-old gelding.
"He definitely seems in good form, and he doesn't mind the ground," said Botti. "We always felt he handles soft ground well. He won well at Haydock, and he is very lightly raced.
"He tries hard, and this is the race we have had in mind for a while. Of course, he's gone up a few pounds, and it is going to be quite testing ground, but Neil [Callan] knows the horse and he seems to get the best out of him.
"There is more money in those valuable handicaps when he steps up in class in the summer and that is where we will try to campaign him.
"Whether Royal Ascot is a possibility, I'm not sure. I would be really worried to run him on really fast ground. It is time to strike now and at the back end, perhaps."
