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Millard shows off all his skills

PREPARING quality gallopers takes a modicum of skill - it's the ordinary animals that truly test a trainer's effectiveness.

That point was eloquently hammered home by former South African champion Tony Millard when he collected the first double of a fledgling local career with the only two horses he saddled at yesterday's Happy Valley meeting.

Kintanto (16-1) and Comedy (8.5-1) were both maidens after more than a dozen local starts but Millard had them at their peak for their low-grade engagements.

Kintanto is a good example of Millard's ability to lift an ordinary conveyance. He acquired the Kinjite gelding from excellent local trainer Francis Lui and had poured plenty of work into the five-year-old in the weeks leading up to his seasonal debut.

It doesn't take much to win a Class Six, 1,800-metre test but Millard had him ready and local ace Eddie Lai did the rest.

Comedy was a pick-up from the now-defunct Patrick Biancone stable and doubled his career earnings in one fell swoop.

Millard may have found the key to this troublesome Irish-bred whose only other top-three finish came when second at his first start for Millard over the Sha Tin mile early last month.

Elsewhere, Sheer Madness (9.5-1) gave David Hill a welcome success when Freddie Sanchez arrived just in time to snatch the Class Three mile event from brave front-runner Born Dragon (15-1) and Wendyll Woods.

This was only the second win of the campaign for the English mentor who was forced to wait a full five minutes for the judge's verdict.

'They [the jockeys] both thought they'd won it but I was relieved to see his number go into the frame. There's been a few tight ones go against us,' said Hill.

'He [Sheer Madness] is good around the Valley, so we thought we were in with a shout.' Tim Pratt

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