The symbol of Central Otago rugby supremacy will be awarded next weekend in Alexandra, and the challengers are hoping to win the White Horse Cup for the first time since May 28, 1994.
The Arrowtown Bulls will take on Alexandra on April 18.
The latter has held the cup since last season.
Arrowtown Rugby Club president Simon Spark said the 83-year-old White Horse Cup was "like the Ranfurly Shield of country rugby", and for a team that had only held it twice in 20 years - the first time in 1989 - little more motivation was needed.
It is understood the cup was first contested in 1926.
Matakanui has a proud tradition with the cup, holding it between 1955 and 1963 and again in 1987 and 1988.
In 1994, the Arrowtown side took the cup from arch-rival Wakatipu and held it for one match.
In the cup's recent history, Maniototo held it for the 2003 rugby season after forfeiting it for fielding an unregistered player in a match against Wakatipu that July.
However, the club was later awarded it back, when the lakesiders could not field a team for the match and Cromwell - which made a special challenge - had to default through lack of a front row.
Wakatipu took the cup from Maniototo in 2004 and retained it until 2006 when Maniototo took it back after a 34-21 win in Queenstown.
Cromwell eventually took the cup from Maniototo.
But it wasn't long before the Ranfurly side had it back yet again, holding it until Alexandra beat the side at home last year.
In 2008, the White Horse Cup was the one trophy missing from the Bulls' cabinet at the end of the season, after failing in its bid to challenge Alexandra for it.
"If you hold it and you have a home game, you have to put it up," Mr Spark said.
"They didn't get a go at it last year . . . It was just the way the draw was and how it moved around."
Mr Spark said by the time Alexandra had won the cup from Cromwell, Arrowtown had already played Alexandra twice.
The club lodged a bid to be allowed to challenge for the cup at the end of last season, where there was a spare weekend to play the game, Mr Spark said "There was a bit of a hoo-ha . . . They could have played for it, but it was against the rules."
The frustration felt by the players over that decision could well work in their favour next weekend, in what Mr Spark expected to be a one-horse race.
"They had it once in 1989 but they didn't hold it . . . You have to get it and hold it all season to get your name on it.
"They'll bolt in [next weekend] . . . They will take Alex apart."
