KEY POINTS:
Raymond Connors and Graeme Lord have a whiff of that old Great Northern-high again.
Both former Northern champions in the saddle - Connors on Our Jonty in the 1998 chase and Lord with a Vincere hurdles' double in 1987-88 - left Ellerslie on Saturday beaming about their chances of now training the winners of the jumping features on September 8.
Connors had just seen Hypnotize do the impossible, picking himself up from a final-hill stumble to win the $40,000 Mad Butcher Pakuranga Hunt Cup, while Lord's Nufsed emerged from under the radar with an eye-catching charge to third behind War Dancer and Poacher in the Lumbercorp Hurdles.
The late-blooming Nufsed, who won a highweight on the flat at Te Aroha last Thursday, may only have one hurdle win to his credit so far, but Lord says the comparisons to his former champ Vincere are so close it's scary.
"He reminds me a lot of Vincere," said Lord, who is in his first Northern assault from his one-horse Cambridge stable.
"He's economical in everything he does. He spends no time in the air and he's a one-pacer."
Lord is also excited about Nufsed tackling an extra 840m in the Northern Saturday week.
Rider Nathan Hanley told him that if Saturday's race had been two strides longer he would have nabbed War Dancer and Poacher.
"But if we'd won, we would have copped a penalty so where he ran was perfect.
"When those other horses got in trouble down the back he was left a little flat footed so it was really pleasing to see him doing his best work at the finish."
Lord praised the early work that rider Jamie Gillies did on the horse, but he says the switch to Hanley has made a world of difference to the 8-year-old's frame of mind on raceday.
"He's the sort of horse who once he gets to know a rider he doesn't try," said Lord who engaged Hanley on Gillies' recommendation when the horse's form tailed off.
Hanley won first-up on Nufsed at Rotorua, humbling Balmuse in the process, was tripped up by a puggy Pukekohe next time out and struck back with the highweight tune-up at Te Aroha on Thursday.
Lord just wishes now his father and former co-owner Ivan could still be around to share the buzz of the Northern build-up. He passed away last May, but not before rubber-stamping his son's faith in the gelding's mettle for the Ellerslie feature.
Co-trainer Brett McDonald, who was placed in the race as a rider, admits he has some reservations about the Lumbercorp winner War Dancer's ability to get the Northern's 4150m.
But says the former handy flat galloper deserves a shot after showing bottomless courage to overhaul Poacher under a vigorous ride from Tommy Hazlett.
The extra 1500m of the Northern chase is the last thing that's going to keep Wanganui-based Connors, 29, awake for the next 12 sleeps.
Hypnotize looked beaten after bungling the first fence on the hill's final summit, but somehow rider Isaac Lupton found another gear inside the final 600m and the pair powered away from a tiring favourite Fair King near the line.
Connors, who paid $20,000 with his father Mark for the close relative to Our Jonty at a South Island 2-year-old sale in 2001, knew he had a Northern prospect before the stamina-rich Yamanin Vital gelding soared over his first fence.
"He was one of those horses who didn't stop in his work so I knew I just had to get him jumping," said Connors, who also trained Our Jonty and co-owned him with his father.
"He [Hypnotize] is actually a very similar jumper to Our Jonty, but Our Jonty was more consistent. This horse jumps the odd one a bit rough."
Fair King and last year's winner, fourth-placed Real Tonic, look the biggest improvers out of those behind Hypnotize on Saturday.
Rider Jamie Gillies is adamant the Ann Browne-trained favourite Faor King will be much tougher to beat in the Northern.
"It was a nice trial; he raced a bit fresh," said Gillies.
"He came to the end of it more than anything, but he'll be spot on in two weeks."
Real Tonic's rider Brett Scott said punters can also expect to see a vastly improved horse on September 8.
"He'll improve a lot with that," said Scott.
"He was travelling sweetly going up the hill the last time, but took a big blow on top of the hill."
