Trainer Adam Trinder is mapping a different course to the Launceston Cup for his bold front-running stayer The Risk Factor with the gelding lining up in Sunday’s Longford Cup (1800m) as his first serious lead-up to the Group 3 event at the end of February.

The calendar year starts as it always does with the annual meeting at Longford.

Connections of Longford are bullish about the bargain buy’s prospects at Ashburton on Friday.