An entry of 23 stayers has been received for South Africa’s premier distance race, the R500 000 Grade 1 Canon Gold Cup, which will be run over 3 200 metres at Greyville Racecourse in Durban on Saturday, August 6.

The race plays a dual role as the final feature event in the KwaZulu-Natal Winter Racing Season and as the first feature on the National racing calendar for the 2005/6 racing year.

One of the most popular racemeetings of the year, the race has a long history of exciting clashes and the large entry this year sets the stage for another top-class contest.

Although Saturday’s winner of the SABC Sport Gold Vase, Cycad, has not been nominated by trainer Mike de Kock, trainers Stan Elley and Geoff Woodruff have nominated their respective runners up, Red Badge and Saddlewood.

Weiho Marwing is planning to test his three-year-old, Oracle West, over the longer trip, the Western Winter gelding having run fourth in Saturday’s South African Airways 2200.

Neil Bruss has entered his Western Winter gelding, Western Prospect, in the race. The gelding had won the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup in his penultimate outing but failed to feature in Saturday’s Vodacom Durban July.

Joey Ramsden is giving his Badger Land gelding, Kipketer, another crack at the Greyville circuit, the four-year-old having failed to feature in Saturday’s SABC Sport Gold Vase where he had started favourite.