Few will have more intrigue than the tactical battle set to play out between drivers Zac Butcher and Natalie Rasmussen.
Butcher holds the ace draw with Belle Of Montana, who will again clash with arch rival Princess Tiffany in the 3yr-old pacing fillies' final.
Belle Of Montana showed she had the speed to lead early in a group 1 event when she won the Victoria Oaks in April.
In that race, Butcher elected to take a trail before Belle Of Montana burst up the passing lane to win.
That is a decision trainer Barry Purdon will be leaving firmly with his reinsman.
"He has got options. She will get out of the gate good and he can decide what he wants to do after that."
Purdon goes into today's 1980m event extremely pleased with Belle Of Montana's health and fitness.
"She has handled everything very well and she has been very good since her last start in the New Zealand Oaks."
Butcher could again adopt similar tactics to his winning Victora Oaks drive or chose to try to lead all the way.
If he chooses the latter and Princess Tiffany had to sit parked outside him that would not scare Rasmussen.
"I am not sweating too much on the run," the trainer-driver said on her website.
"Would I be unhappy to be parked outside Belle of Montana if she holds up?
"The answer is `no, I would be happy to be there. I am very happy with her."
Rasmussen's All Stars stables are set for several showdowns with the Robert Dunn stable.
One of those will come in the 2yr-old pacing fillies' final.
The Purdon Rasmussen pairing of Sweet On Me and Amazing Dream clash with Dunn's duo of Tiffany Rose and Spellbound.
The Dunn pair have a barrier advantage in starting from barriers 1 and 6 and their trainer does not want to see that go to waste.
Dunn said driver John Dunn should have no troubles holding the front early with Spellbound from barrier 1.
"She should hold up easy and it will be up to Johnny what he wants to do after that."
Tiffany Rose is also a smart beginner and Dunn said he would like driver Blair Orange to take advantage of that.
"All of her races have been in front and she is a very good staying filly, Tiffany Rose.
"I would like to see her get back in front again, but it will depend on how she leaves the barrier."
Sweet On Me and Amazing Dream have drawn barriers 7 and 10, respectively.
Sweet On Me was clearly dominant over Amazing Dream earlier in the season, but there is little between them before today's race, Mark Purdon said.
"The gap has closed a lot. Amazing Dream is hardy and the racing has improved her. It will depend on what happens early for Amazing Dream, whereas Sweet On Me will probably end up going forward from out wide."
The Purdon-Rasmussen and Dunn stables are set for another intriguing showdown in the 4yr-old trotting final.
The All Stars pairing of Winterfell and Kings Landing clash with Dunn's Sundees Sun and Valloria.
Sundess Sun is well placed to complete a hat-trick of group 1 wins from barrier 4. The trotter stamped himself as an open-class star by winning the Anzac and Rowe Cups in his past two starts.
- Oamaru reinsman Matthew Williamson finished sixth when the world driving championships ended yesterday.
Williamson was stuck with long-shot drives on the final day of the competition and was unable to move up the leader board.
The best result from his five drives at the Rattvik meeting came when he finished third with Haksatter Svarten. Williamson's finished the championship with 135.5 points.
