Apart from a winning post and some greenery, there are few similarities between Trentham's steeplechase course and Ellerslie's Great Northern track.
But that does not eliminate tomorrow's $50,000 Irvines McGregor Grant Steeples at Trentham as being the ideal lead-up to the Great Northern.
Nor does it divorce last year's Great Northern winner Wise Men Say from favouritism in tomorrow's Trentham feature.
Wise Men Say has had just one run since his major victory late last year — a minor hurdle victory. That might seem a scant preparation for a race as tough as this, but trainer Raymond Connors has a remarkable record of conditioning horses for such things.
"For him it's a case of the wetter, the better. He's not a fast horse but he's got stamina and that's his key edge," Connors said.