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Not only does trainer Kim Waugh have two of the major players in Saturday’s inaugural Four Pillars at Rosehill she regards both Different Strokes and Conrad as highly promising prospects for the future.

On ability Waugh has trouble splitting them but she concedes the pair have had differing fortunes since they were selected for the $700,000 race.

While Different Strokes, the $4 favourite with TAB on Thursday, is still in his first racing preparation it's been a smooth one and he was a dominant Midway winner three weeks ago it's not been so simple for Conrad.

The Wyong trainer said she was aiming the three-year-old at some good quality spring races against his own age when a bruised foot forced a focus shift.

"They are lightly raced, still coming through the system,'' Waugh said.

"Different Strokes is going great, he's a real progressive horse who just keeps improving and stepping up. I love horses that do that.

"We had these grand plans for Conrad, he's a really nice horse with lots of potential and we've got plenty of time for him."

The Four Pillars, run over 1500m, comprises horses that are eligible for Midway races and the field was selected by 18 second chance winners who bought tickets in The Kosciuszko draw.

Different Strokes, who counts sporting luminaries like Mark Waugh, Shane Heal and Bryan Fletcher as some of his owners, didn't start his career until early August and has built a record of three wins from six starts.

He cost $80,000 and Waugh said there are good reasons why he was a late starter.

"We bought him at the breeze up, I loved him there, and he injured his fetlock so he had to go out for four months,'' she said.

"When he came back he got an eye injury so had to have an eye operation. That's why he raced so late but he's making up for lost time."

The four-year-old rises 3.5kg for his last start win over 1400m, where he put a gap on his rivals late, but jockey Hugh Bowman has barrier one to offset it.

Waugh said she'd love to see him go out a winner for the preparation and is adamant he will return a better horse in the new year.

"Hughie will sort things out on how the pace pans out. He could be in front, if they want to go crazy he can be just in behind them,'' she said.

"You don't like to give Hughie any instructions, he knows the horse well and we will let him sort it out on the day."

It will be a nice training performance from Waugh if Conrad is able to win the Four Pillars on the back of a build up that's been less than ideal to say the least.

He won first-up over 1100m at Hawkesbury back in mid-August and as Waugh said was destined to step into stakes company before the bruised foot put him out of play.

He resurfaced just over a week ago in a 1400m Benchmark 68 at Kensington under 60.5kg, with bar plates on, and went down fighting beaten under two lengths in third place.

"I thought last week was a super run. He hadn't run for eight weeks and only had one grass jump out because the trials didn't fit in to where we were at,'' Waugh said.

"He drops 5kg on Saturday and will just love that.

"Over 1500m he has nice pace and can be wherever we want him to be. It's a big field so it can be a bit hard to work the pace out sometimes so you have to leave it to the jockey to work it out."

Alysha Collett has the ride on Conrad who was $9.50 with TAB on Thursday.