Getting into the major races - like the 2011 version of the Great Northern - took priority and Karlos was restricted to hurdling and he went within a short head of adding the Hawkes Bay Hurdles to the list.
Take little notice of Karlos being beaten at Paeroa last week - he carried topweight of 69kg and his slightly smallish frame found it too much.
This race sets up nicely for him on 64kg and there is no rehandicap for next week's $57,500 FMG Grand National Steeplechase.
Both races were won last year by tomorrow's topweight Counter Punch, who carried 67kg on a 64kg minimum in the Koral and 66kg on a 63kg minimum in the big one.
This time he has 68kg on a 64kg minimum, so you can argue he's still pretty well off.
The greatly improved Mr Align will almost certainly start favourite after his dashing wins in the McGregor Grant Steeplechase then the Wellington Steeples.
In both victories, Mr Align looked beaten, but rallied strongly late to score impressively.
If you like Mr Align you have to have some sort of a ticket on Karlos, because when Karlos won that maiden steeplechase at Ellerslie last August, Mr Align was 30 lengths behind in second place.
Kevin Myers' Lizac won four straight steeplechases, starting with a maiden at Wanganui on May 12 followed by the Homeby on this track, then the Otago Steeples and finishing with the open steeplechase at Oamaru on June 30. This will be far and away the best field he has faced.
Whatever you back in tomorrow's $100,000 Aussie Browne's Pharmacies Winter Cup at Riccarton - you can make a case for eight or nine of them - have a saver on Spare A Fortune.
The latest form might look average on paper, but he's the type of horse who could play havoc with them.
Spare A Fortune was just coming to form when connections decided on a Melbourne campaign.
It didn't pay off, he was seventh at Moonee Valley then 10th at Flemington, but flying trips to Australia can be tricky and often the form there in a couple of starts can be ignored.
Spare A Fortune will almost certainly be above his usual price because of those failures.
He's the boy for most occasions - he's won in good, dead, slow and heavy - so whatever it is tomorrow (at the time of writing it was a slow 9) it isn't going to concern him.
If it's heavy another northerner in Matost will be dangerous.
It was tough going when he won the Whyte Handicap at Trentham last start, but that's the way he likes it and if it rains on the day, all the better.
As you probably want for these big feature metric miles, the field could not be more open. It's very similar in that respect to last week's Taumarunui Gold Cup at Te Rapa, which gave punters nightmares all week.
The TAB has Titch as its $4.50 early favourite. That's perhaps not a surprise, but it's difficult to know what to take from his fresh-up win.
As the winner of nearly $1 million he did well, with an apprentice claim, to get into a Marlborough handicap with 58.5kg. If he didn't win that you would want to know why.
This won't be quite as easy with 59kg against a much better field, but he is tough and rates up there.
It's difficult to know how good southerner Flying Alibi could be.
He's won his past three straight and four of his past five, but this will be by far his biggest test.
The TAB has him at $5 nudging for favouritism.
Matost, Spare A Fortune and Ishiabeel are together on $8 with Don't Say Clang at $10.
Perhaps better this time: Overall the young boy did a good job on Gossiping at Trentham last start, but he went a bit soon. Michael Coleman is aboard at Riccarton in the third race this time and he knows her well.
Start your engines: Those who backed up on Abbottabad at Te Rapa last week after the impressive debut victory missed out when the start was botched. Even a slow beginning in the first race at Counties might not matter - there are only five other runners to get around.
Don't forget: The dreaded on-pace bias at Ruakaka of July 16 should never be forgotten. Local Tekeela paid a hefty price for covering ground and might prove how costly that was when he goes out in Race 4 today. It might have taken nearly a year, but would the real Karlos now please stand up.
