The club has received 115 nominations for the seven-race card, which is down from 169 entries last year.

The $15,000 feature has attracted 17 nominations with the Brad Witt-trained Gunner allocated top-weight of 60-kilograms.

Gunner looks set to vie for favouritism with stable- mate Lexical Ambiguity after the pair filled the quinella at their most recent start at Albury last month.

The meeting has been well-supported by Border trainers with Brian Cox, Rob Wellington, John Taylor and Kym Davison all set to make the trek into the hills.

Cox has nominated He’s An Angel for the 1600- metre feature as well as several other runners for the supporting races, including Chase Me, High Class Lady, Front Pew, She’s Missing and Club Zero.

The Wodonga trainer is a long-time supporter of Towong and last won the cup in 2006 when Only A Dream stormed to victory with Nick Souquet in the saddle.

Local trainer Malcolm Jarvis will be after his sec-ond victory in his home town feature with Surfcoast Racer.

Jarvis was a previous winner with Grimhuntamug in 2005.

Surfcoast Racer finished runner-up in the race last year which was taken out by Tully Costa who made the trek from Kyneton for trainer Danny Curran.

The eight-year-old finished just outside the placings at his most recent start at Wodonga last month.

Towong, known as the “Flemington of the Bush”, can expect huge crowds on the day.

TAB facilities, local and metropolitan bookmakers, amusements for the kids and marquee packages are on offer.