The £40,000 Timeform Sprint Series Final at Chelmsford on Thursday has attracted a maximum field of 14 and the significant prize money on offer has been hailed as a "great incentive" by trainer Richard Fahey.
The Final will be contested by horses who finished in the first six of at least one of the 12 qualifiers that took place at Chelmsford since the start of October. It provides the 14 handicappers with the opportunity to run for better prize money than is typically the case and has been keenly targeted by many trainers.
Fahey's Havana Rum won a five-furlong qualifier two weeks ago - on the final day of qualification - but his chances in the Final were dealt a blow when he landed stall 14 of 14.
Fahey said: "He's in good form but that draw [in stall 14] definitely hasn't helped.
"He won over five furlongs the other day which surprised us a bit – it's another string to his bow. We were keen to finish in the first six that day to qualify for this race as it's a great incentive for these all-weather horses to run in £40,000 handicaps."
Stuart Williams has been a leading supporter of the series and has had eight runners in qualifiers, with Cherry Cobbler, Panelli and Existent making the cut for the Final.
He said: "This series gives an incentive for these horses. Usually, it's either run in this 0-75 or that 0-75 and they're worth the same money, so to have a series like this is great fun and a good advert for the track as well. They've got a full field and a very competitive race.
"My owners are very prize-sensitive. We always try to target the decent prize money if we can and this series has very much been in their minds."
Those sentiments were echoed by Tony Carroll who runs Charlie Mason and recent qualifier winner Justcallmepete. He said: "The prize money is a big attraction. Both horses have nice form on the track and we just needed a little bit of luck with the draws, which we've got.
"This sort of race has to be a good thing. We've got to try and look after the owners as best we can, it's marvellous really.”
Ross Burdon, who is in his first year with a licence, trains Timeform top-rated Mesaafi who represents a syndicate set up by the trainer to attract owners to the yard.
Burdon said: “For horses of his calibre who probably aren't quite good enough to be winning one of those big Saturday sprint handicaps, it gives us something different to aim at. And for a syndicate horse like him, it gives his owners something to look forward to.”
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