The six-year-old mare is well poised to repeat her heroics of last year, with trainer Paul Jones giving his stable star the tick of approval.

"We are pretty happy with her, but I suppose you just have to wait and see what barrier we draw and things like that," Jones told The Ararat Advertiser earlier this week.

"Regardless of that though, I am pretty confident that she will give us a good sight."

Yesterday morning it was announced Spanish Vixen would jump from barrier seven in her quest for a second Great Western Cup in as many years.

At the time, her 2014 victory over the 1850-metre journey was the biggest of the Stawell-trained horse's career, with wins in the Halls Gap Cup and St Arnaud Cup following in the next 12 months.

On December 19, the mare by sire Al Samer out of dam Vixen General added another achievement to her name by saluting in a $35,000 race at Mooney Valley.

Jones said Spanish Vixen had handled the step up in grade very well.

“Her rating has gone up, so that means she has been running in stiffer races than this time last year,” he said.

“Her form this time in has been very consistent, the only two blemishes on her card this preparation have been on rain-affected tracks, which she doesn’t like — apart from that her form has been good and we are pretty happy with her.

“The track at Great Western should be firm enough that it will be to her liking.”

The biggest challenge for the reigning Cup holder is likely to come from top weight Jahan.

The five-year-old gelding, trained by Warrnambool’s Symon Wilde, has recent winning form, claiming the Penshurst Cup two starts back on Boxing Day after saluting at Stawell the week prior. The gelding also scored a win at NMIT Ararat Park during the Gold Cup race day in November.

Elusive King, the Wycheproof Cup winner and the in-form Why Mallan are two others that can’t be discounted in the eight-strong field on Sunday.

Jones said punters could always count on an honest race from Spanish Vixen.

“She doesn’t have to lead, but she normally begins well and races fairly handy, which is good,” he said.

“She gets out, puts herself in a good spot and sort of stays out of trouble.

“It would be great (to go back-to-back), it is a great race, it is an iconic race in this region.

“The club and committee down there do a fantastic job in the way they prepare the track and put on the event. We are pretty happy to be able to support them.

“Most of the tracks in the state are under VRC control in some capacity, so Great Western is one of only a few small tracks that are still run voluntarily.

“This year the race meeting actually has TAB status, which I suppose is testament to all the work the club has put in over the years.”

Great Western Racing Club president, Carl Barry said having the meeting available on the tote would open Great Western up to a wider audience.

“Because it is a TAB meeting, it will also be televised on SkySports2 and that is the first time for us in 135 years of racing. That will be a big win,” he said.

“It just gives a broader coverage about the Great Western meeting and where it is, what we do and all that type of stuff.”

With the forecast to be partly cloudy and a top of 23 degrees, the track is expected to be rated a Good 3.

Mr Barry said along with an extensive amount of irrigation, the heavy rainfall of the past fortnight couldn’t have been timed any better.

“There’s a huge amount of work that goes into getting the track ready and due to the lack of water — we’re about five and a half inches short of our rainfall — we left our preparation of the track until the second week of November,” he said.

“We ended up purchasing just over five megalitres from Grampians Water and in the last 10 days we have also had about 150ml, which has been fantastic.

“It has come up so well, I am really happy with it and I would go as far as to say this is the best the track has ever looked.”

After losing its traditional Monday date a few years ago, Mr Barry believes this year’s Sunday schedule will be a massive positive.

“It is the first time racing on Sunday and will mean people won’t be playing cricket or tennis, so hopefully the locals will jump in behind us and support the day,” he said.

“We are only a small committee, about nine of us, but it’s a good setup. Everyone is hard working and it’s a great effort to pull it altogether. It would be a shame to lose the history of the race day.

“We should make special mention of Seppelt, which has been fantastic in supporting us once again.

“We are good to go.”

Race one of the seven card event begins at 1.23pm. See page 34 for fields.