And it is not just that all four horses have cool names.
They are the first winners of the popular Otago Daily Times Southern Mile series, the fifth season of which begins at the Otago Racing Club’s meeting at Wingatui on Boxing Day.
The series has only grown in popularity and, with stakes also being lifted, it continues to attract some classy horses from far and wide.
Winton-trained gelding Henley was the inaugural champion in 2022, and White Robe Lodge star Burgie claimed the honours a year later with a classy Terry Moseley ride.
Kylie Williams rode the Jo-Ann Gordon-trained The Grey Goose to victory last year, and Ascot Park owner-trainer-breeder Bill McNamara scored his biggest win in racing when Maximus Augustus won the $200,000 Southern Mile final at Wingatui on March 1.
The final is one of the highlights of the fledgling big day on the Otago racing calendar.
The Property Brokers-sponsored Otago Classics Day returns for a second year on Saturday, February 28.
It features the Southern Mile final along with the $230,000 group 3 White Robe Lodge weight-for-age, the $180,000 listed Dunedin Gold Cup and the $180,000 listed Dunedin Guineas.
The stakes are not quite as high at the Boxing Day meeting at Wingatui but there will still be plenty of good racing.
Two $50,000 Southern Mile heats will follow the $100,000 listed NZB Airfreight Stakes.
Six clubs will host Southern Mile heats across four venues this summer.
There will be 10 qualifying races, each run over 1600m, at rating 65 and rating 75 levels, and the final will be a 1600m benchmark rating 82 special conditions handicap.
To be eligible for the final, horses must have competed in at least one qualifying race.
Heat winners get 10 points. The allocation is then eight points for second, seven for third, six for fourth, five for fifth, four for sixth, three for seventh, two for eighth, and one point each for ninth and 10th.
The field for the final will be selected from the horses with the highest number of points. In the event of horses being on the same number of points, preference will be given to heat winners.
After the two Wingatui heats on Boxing Day, subsequent Southern Mile races are at Riverton (January 1), the Waikouaiti meeting at Wingatui (two on January 17), Riccarton (January 24 and February 4), Wingatui again (February 7), Ascot Park (February 14) and Ashburton (February 20).
That sets the scene for the big final at Wingatui on February 28.
