There's a former Bathurst Paceway track record holder, there's a former Gold Tiara heat victor, there are runners that contested the recent Inter Dominion Grand Final and there's Group 1 winning trainers and drivers as well.

It means the annual Boxing Day event named in honour of the late Turnbull family matriarch once again underlines it status as a highlight of the Bathurst Harness Racing Club's calendar.

Bathurst Harness Racing Club chief executive officer Danny Dwyer is delighted by the quality of the field, one that closely resembles the Inter Dominion heats staged at the track at the start of the month.

"I was hoping that because we had that little bit of a break between the Inter Dominion and Shirley Turnbull night we may have got a lot and also some of the local runners backing up," he said.

"There are seven backing up that started in the Inter Dom - that was a big stretch with three runs in a week then a big final. To have them all backing up within two weeks, it probably shows the level of respect and popularity of the Shirley Turnbull Memorial that those horses have stayed in work and committed."

The 2019 Shirley Turnbull Memorial winner Alta Orlando, who blazed to victory that year in a track record 1:55.9, was shaping as the favourite for the 2,790 metres Group 2 feature before being scratched on Thursday morning.

But there is still plenty of quality in the field.

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The Kevin Pizzuto trained Mach Dan lines up after placing a short-half-head second in the Inter Dominion consolation. He also won his most recent start at Menangle in a blistering 1:50.3 mile rate, though it was over the shorter 1,609m trip.

Steve Turnbull, who last won his mother's race in 2009, will chase success with Atomic Red while his daughter-trainer Amanda Turnbull has entered Bundoran and Ellmers Image. She previously won the memorial in 2007.

Then there's Mat Rue's Fouroeight, a former Bathurst track record holder, plus Chris Frisby's Aphorism and Bernie Hewitt's Make Mine Memphis who both ran in the Inter Dominion series.

"It means so much to the Turnbull family and they are so well respected and I'm sure there are a lot of people who like to support the race not only because of its Group status, but because it's named after Shirley Turnbull as well. It's got that bit of charisma around it," Dwyer said.

"It's a really strong race, we've got a mixture of Sydney trained runners which you always like to expect when you put on the good prize money and you've also got the flavour of the local runners as well based around the Turnbull family.

"I know it's a race that they always want to have runners in, and they have supported it very strongly again, you've also got Bern [Hewitt] and Chris [Frisby] and Matty [Rue] in there as well."

This year's $51,500 Shirley Turnbull Memorial is set for 8:23pm on Sunday night.

SHIRLEY TURNBULL MEMORIAL FIELD: Somebeachsomeshadow, Ego Dan, Rubies For Tash (Jason Grimson); Loorrim Lake, Mach Dan (Kevin Pizzuto); Ellmers Image, Bundoran (Amanda Turnbull); Make Mine Memphis (Bernie Hewitt); Aphorism (Chris Frisby); Atomic Red (Steve Turnbull); Fouroeight (Matt Rue).

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