A capacity field brimful of champion sprinters will take to the track on Saturday for this year’s $300,000 Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m), at Randwick racecourse.

The Tony Noonan-trained Ortensia is the current pre-race favourite at $3.80 for a win with [iasbet] in the final field of 14.

First-up back from a spell, Ortensia is expected to make an impressive return to racing after claiming victory in the Group 2 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) back in November last year.

Drawn in barrier eight, the four-year-old Testa Rossa mare will be ridden by Craig Williams on Saturday.

Battling for favouritism in the betting markets with Ortensia, is Mark Kavanagh’s consistent three-year-old Definitely Ready installed at $4.40 after securing the prized inside running with barrier one.

The More Than Ready gelding has enjoyed a brilliant start to their racing career, winning five of their six starts and looks a real threat in the 2010 The Galaxy starting from barrier one with big race hoop Glen Boss aboard.

Boss will be extra determined to do well here after his mount in the Doncaster Mile at the same meeting was cancelled, leaving him without a ride in the day’s richest event.

Equal third favourites at $6.50 with [iasbet] are Swift Alliance and De Lightning Ridge.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Swift Alliance is coming off a comprehensive win in the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes (1100m) last start and will jump from barrier nine while Tale Of The Cat mare De Lightning Ridge starts out wide in barrier 11.

Two Group 1 winners that represent good value in the 2010 The Galaxy are Typhoon Zed and Gold Trail. The pair have drawn wide starting from barriers 15 and 13 respectively, but with 2008 The Galaxy winner Typhoon Zed paying $34 for a win and Gold Trail at the lucrative odds of $21, these two should not be forgotten.

Also worth keeping an eye on is three-year-old Testa Rossa filly Rostova coming off her maiden Group 1 win in the Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m) in Adelaide on March 20, drawn mid-field in barrier six.

Meanwhile prolific trainer Chris Waller has two of his stable sprinters engaged in Saturday’s showdown, Shellscrape in the far outside barrier 14 and improving Fastnet Rock colt Stryker in gate 10.

You can catch these excellent sprinters in action at 4:15pm (NSW time) when the 2010 The James Boag Galaxy runs as the seventh of eight races at the Randwick meeting.

The scheduled highlight of the day is the coveted $1.5 million Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) taking place as race six and before that, race five, is the first of the three Group 1 features at the meeting, the $350,000 AJC Australian Oaks (2400m) for the fillies.

2010 The James Boag Galaxy Final Field & Barrier Draw