Third acceptances are in and there are a couple of surprises: three of the top 24 dropped out of the running.

• Mirage Dancer (formerly 13th) was the highest of these. After taking out the Metropolitan he finished a long adrift second-last in the Caulfield Cup; he must have had a niggle he couldn't overcome.
• After all the hullaballoo about being the Cox Plate emergency behind less worthy runners, Buckhurst (formerly 15th in the order) finished well off the pace in 10th. Now he's out of the Cup.
• Toffee Tongue (23rd in the order) was 14th in the Caulfield Cup
• Mugatoo would have now been on the bubble, but has elected not to continue after his 4th placing in the Cox Plate (in which he finished 3.5L back and ran 5 lengths further than the winner).
• Raheen House was one further spot back in the Order (and a lot further back in the Caulfield Cup)
• Too far back in the order and out of time were: Master Of Wine, Brimham Rocks, Shared Ambition, Paths Of Glory, Midterm, Selino, Levendi, Al Galayel and Entente.
• Cadre du Noir and Grand Promenade were yet to pass the first ballot clause and pulled the pin.

45 remain in the running. The current Order of Entry is here: https://cdn.racing.com/-/media/rv/2...oct-26-2020.pdf

• Four are still to pass the first ballot clause: Lord Belvedere, Admire Robson, Future Score and Saracen Knight.
• The Bendigo Cup on Wednesday is a qualifying race and prizemoney attained will count. It will be very interesting around the bottom of the Top 24. The Hotham Stakes winner will leap above them all, but Zebrowski could sneak into 23rd with a win at Bendigo.
• Everybody else seems to either be counting on further attrition or to win the Hotham
• True Self is currently in 24th but hasn't nominated for either (or maybe the Racing Australia website still needs an update; noms only closed 3 hours ago for the Bendigo Cup).