It’s all over but the “Thank you, mates.”

The 11 nominations Tuesday for New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and the 10 for Australian Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” have turned the Oscars into a two-horse race to the finish.

And one horse “Return of the King” – looks a lot stronger than the other.

As much as I’d like to bring an actual thoroughbred into the metaphor, “Seabiscuit’s” bounty of seven nominations is probably as far as it’s going to go.

The 2003 nominations list has its oddities, not the least of which is that the two movies with the most nominations received none for acting. Throw in “Seabiscuit,” and three out of five were overlooked by the actors branch.

The big loser of the day was Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain,” which got seven nominations but was overlooked for picture, director and adapted screenplay.

Although Jude Law received a nomination for Best Actor, co-star Nicole Kidman did not, despite the intense lobbying by Miramax on television.

With a month to the big show on Feb. 29, the major races seem pretty easy to call:

Picture: “The Return of the King,” a lock.

Director: Peter Jackson, ditto.

Actor: Sean Penn (“Mystic River”), with stiff competition from Bill Murray (“Lost in Translation”) and Ben Kingsley (“House of Sand and Fog”).

Actress: Charlize Theron (“Monster”), with Naomi Watts (“21 Grams”) on her heels.

Supporting actor: Tim Robbins (“Mystic River”), with Benicio Del Toro (“21 Grams”) moving up.

Supporting actress: Renee Zellweger (“Cold Mountain”), a lock.

Original screenplay: Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), a lock.

Adapted screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson (“The Return of the King”).

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(c) 2004, New York Daily News.

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