North Taieri grey Jackfrost heads to Riccarton on Saturday to complete the last step on his remarkable quest to go from potential hack to Grand National Hurdles winner.
The winner of five flat races arrived at Brian and Shane Anderton's stable after his form had spiralled downwards.
If the horse had not returned to form quickly he would have been retired to become a hack for John ''Coaster'' Howe's daughter.
Howe manages the large Frosty's Shoutin The Beers Syndicate, which owns the horse.
The group, made up largely of Canterbury-based harness racing enthusiasts, is set for a huge week when its grey hurdler lines up in Saturday's Sydenham Hurdles and Wednesday's Grand National Hurdles.
The horse heads into the two races with few excuses not to perform well.
''He is fit and he is raring to go,'' Shane Anderton said. ''It's test match time and he is ready to go.''
The 8yr-old burst on to the jumping scene at last year's Grand National Carnival when he brilliantly won his first two starts over hurdles.
Jackfrost returns a stronger horse with the benefit of a winter of jumping behind him this year.
''He has probably put on a lot more weight this time round,'' Anderton said.
''We only sort of got him at the tail end of last year and by the time we got him a jumping ticket, he was pretty good for a syndicate horse. He was hardly out of the money.''
''He won by a good margin the first day and the second day he won by a good margin again. This year he has been targeted at the National, so hopefully he can get the job done.''
Jackfrost has been superb running in the top two placings in three hurdle starts this jumping season.
In the latest of those, he was a hard-fighting second when one of his main Grand National Hurdles rivals, The Energizer, won at Timaru.
''The other day at Timaru he ran a good second on a slow track. He's probably improved; he was probably not as hard [fit] as The Energizer was.''
''He has been going quite good races and I am happy with him.''
The Energizer will bypass tomorrow's race and go straight into the Grand National Hurdles.
Go Go Gonzo won last year's Sydenham Hurdles and looks to be coming back to form in time for this year's race.
The Sean Cameron-trained jumper has endured a horror run of mishaps and a lung infection before winning in his most recent hurdle start at Wingatui.
Topweight The Shackler is the horse to beat, despite putting in a shocker in his last start in the Wellington Hurdles.
The horse found nothing when asked for an effort in the race and was beaten by more than 20 lengths as a $2.40 favourite.
Life does not get any easier for the Paul Nelson-trained 12yr-old whose 71kg handicap means he concedes 5.5kg to Jackfrost.
Laekeeper is another leading prospect. The horse has a brilliant record over hurdles and comes into the race after two good recent wins. Laekeeper carries 1.5kg more than Jackfrost.
