Leading the way is Michael Mulholland-trained gelding Reward Seeker, the six-year-back to defend his crown as he reigned victorious in 2020 as a $6.50 chance.

It was just 12 months ago he produced a huge finish to claim to the Orange feature and his form hasn't dropped since, as he won the $100,000 Wellington Cup as a $17 chance just last month.

The obvious query for him would be the distance as the 2020 Orange Cup was the only time he raced over 2000 metres.

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Also prominent will be Dylan's Romance as the eight-year-old gelding ran second to Reward Seeker at the Wellington Cup last start.

Marc Conner's prospect has had 11 wins in his career but hasn't broken through since Rosehill in 2019.

Not to be ignored is Orange Cup Prelude winner Renalot as Roy McCabe's confident the five-year-old mare can succeed in uncharted territory... she's never competed over 2000 metres in her career but ran a stout third in the Wellington Cup behind the aforementioned duo.

Former Orange trainer Gary Portelli has moved onto bigger thigs, but will be hoping Friday's homecoming is a happy one as he's put forward Lord Tropicana for the cup.

It wouldn't be a rich country race without a Kody Nestor horse competing as Eva's Deel will look to secure her owner the prize money.

She's been around the money this preparation but had a deadly win over the 1800 at Rosehill in December.

Nestor's fellow Dubbo trainer Garry Lunn is also in the mix, putting forward both Careering Away and Bemboka.

Final fields are released Wednesday.