The first semi-final went the way of the favourite Santas Amigo, who stepped up on his promising race behind Romeo Steel in the heats, writes Peter Walker.
The locally trained Droopys Sort paced up after a steady start but was no match for the winner.
The each-way selection Sunnyside Gurkha suffered a couple of bumps early on and had to settle for third.
The favourite also obliged in the next as Bockos Buster took advantage of a slender lead around the opening bends.
Further congestion
Whitehills Titan chased him all the way until tiring on the run-in. However, he managed to just hold on to qualify from a fast-finishing Deerjet Rocket.
The last semi-final included four previous winners, and to say it was a very muddling race is an understatement.
Slingshot Poppy marginally led on the run-up, but Romeo Steel took the shortest route to get his nose in front.
After jostling around the second bend, Poppy wrestled the initiative back and attempted to shake off the chasing pack down the far side.
There was further congestion with only a few lengths between all six contenders approaching the last bend.
The run-in
During the run-in, both Poppy and Steel came together again, which set the race up for the only wide-runner Coolavanny Mercy to take advantage of a clear run on the outside.
The rank outsider won at 33/1 (the exchange SP was a massive 75.0) in an understandably slower time, with Unanimous Leon coming through in second.
The draw for the final has a good spread of seeded qualifiers. We have joint favourites in Bockos Buster and Santas Amigo, with the latter having the advantage ratings-wise.
If he manages to break free from the rest of the talented field early on in the race, he is my idea of the champion.
Nevertheless, it would be folly to assume a clean-run race, especially if the events of the previous Friday are anything to go by.
Rankings and ratings
PGR Classic
ARC Maiden, ARC Shootout Stakes & more
There are a couple of additional finals on show as part of a fantastic all-open card at Sunderland.
Ratings have been calculated for them, as well as most of the other races, in search of winners on the night.
PGR Eclipse
I have also included the PGR Eclipse final held on the following Monday at Nottingham, with the odds-on chance that Proper Heiress is a tricky draw to overcome.
READ MORE: Home hero Droopys Sort goes for glory in £20,000 PGR Classic final
