The horses are thundering down the straight towards the finish line and it's still anyone's cup.

And, just when we thought the leaders would cruise to the line, we have another new contender. She hasn't been seen since they jumped but now, after two withering runs over the weekend, the inaugural champ Galloping Gail may have galloped her way into equine glory. She has come from the clouds to collect 21 massive points and two lots of $15 after blitzing her rivals at The Valley and Flemington. She has now settled nicely into second place, two lengths behind a gasping Garfield the Cat. He is looking nervously over his shoulder in the knowledge that his nearest competitor is aiming to make it back-to-back wins in this famous race.

The most consistent performer, Jumbo Jimbo, is a further two lengths behind in third spot. He has been joined on the outside by Mad Dog Muir who has started to accelerate again after some indifferent runs. Can he grab a place in the race?

Filthy Phil is in fourth place but, after looking like the winner several weeks ago, he got his ambitions mixed up with his abilities and now seems to be going backwards. Beside him on the rails is Killer Conley who must have been disappointed with his performance on the weekend. After being a hot favourite with 20 runners at Flemington, he seemed to buckle under the pressure and only picked up 5 points. The rumour is that his convoy of horse floats may be headed for the glue factory on the way home.

Some other good runs of note were from The Egg Man (10 points), Randle of the Candle (8 points) and The Club (8 points) but they are too far from the front to feature in the final.