THE results are in, the field is settled and there is a market already framed for a group of horses who won’t actually race.

Earlier this month the Bathurst Harness Racing Club announced that it would be launching the Greatest Ever Pacing Cup to help celebrate the club’s history at the Bathurst Showground.

The last meeting at the venue will be held this Sunday, and the cup idea comes ahead of next month’s shift to the new track near Mount Panorama.

A number of experts from both the present day and the past were asked to delve into their memory banks as well as online records to come up with nominees for a field of stars who have raced at the Showground Paceway.

Points were allocated with five points for a first selection down to one point for a fifth selection from each voter. The 10 highest scorers earned entry into the field.

The points will also determine the outcome of the race itself.

No-one will know the outcome until Craig Easy, Mark McNamara and Kevin Thompson deliver a phantom call of the race, run from a mobile start over 2,520 metres on Sunday.

“It has generated a lot of interest so far, not just from regular club members either but in the media – the Trot Guide, Harness Link – and it has all been great publicity,” club CEO Danny Dwyer said.

“There are some great horses in the field, horses who were great at Bathurst and others that were superstars in their own right wherever they raced.

“There was a bit of a pattern in that the horses that people got to watch regularly were very popular especially.”

In the final field were some obvious choices, led by AD Turnbull’s legendary Hondo Grattan and his son Steve’s Smooth Satin, both of whom claimed wins in the InterDominion Final and the Miracle Mile.

Another local star was Rowleyalla, trained by Keven Rivett and famed for his mile-rates and track records as well as some major race wins.

The most recent runner to make the cut was Dubbo champion Karloo Mick, who last raced in January 2013.

A regular at Bathurst, he was a two-time winner of the Shirley Turnbull Memorial among a host of other victorious efforts at the venue.

Dwyer cited one of the biggest stars of the 1990s as the logical favourite in three-time InterDominion winner Our Sir Vancelot, who claimed the Bathurst Gold Cup in his last ever race in 1999.

The phantom market agreed, starting him at $2.75 ahead of $4 chance and 1990 Bathurst Gold Crown winner Master Musician, with Hondo Grattan ($6) on the next line.

“From the draw with Our Sir Vancelot in gate one, he holds the key to the race, it has made it fairly easy for him to lead,” Dwyer said.

“First Kiss [gate two, $17] and Hondo Grattan [gate five] are both set up to sit outside the leader, while Rowleyalla [$6, inside gate, second row] and Smooth Satin [$8, second gate, second row] are both ready to pounce if there’s some speed on.”

Dwyer has been an avid follower of the sport for more than 30 years and is delighted with the representation from across a number of eras.

For him, Hondo Grattan was one of the main reasons he became a fan of pacing in the first place.

“He was an idol of mine as a kid growing up in the ’70s,” he said.

“Going through into the late ’80s and into the ’90s, Master Musician was a fantastic horse, Rowleyalla was another one at that stage too who not only won some big races, but even moreso captured the attention of the world because of the times he was running.

“There are others I’ve only read about, Grogan, First Kiss for example, but that shows a good cross section of members and the horses they’ve been able to see over the years.”