Just 30 horses remain in the hunt for the $6 million Cox Plate after second acceptances were taken on Tuesday.
Among the absentees from the first list of 107 nominations are recent Makybe Diva Stakes winner Mr Brightside and Group 1 winners Another Wil, Ceolwulf and Feroce.
There are also no northern hemisphere-trained horses left in the race.
Six of the 30 are three-year-olds, Nepotism, Vinrock, Wodeton, Rivellino, Within The Law and Autumn Boy and 10 are trained by Chris Waller, including favourite Via Sistina.
At the same stage last year there were still 45 horses in the running for the race.
Underwood stakes winner Sir Delius remains in the Cox Plate but is out of the Caulfield Cup, which as 49 horses left at the second acceptance stage.
Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice, placegetter Okita Soushi and Q22 winner Kovalica are also out of contention for the Caulfield feature.
The Willie Mullins-trained Absurde, Japanese-trained Golden Snap, Simon and Ed Crisford’s Meydaan and the Alessandro Botti-prepared Presage Nocturne are the remaining internationals.