Even the long-suffering owners of Silly Boy wouldn't mind his being called ordinary. It's probably a compliment compared to some of the things they themselves have called him over the past 31/2 years since his first start on December 26, 2002 - the same afternoon that Silent Witness debuted.

Frustration has been the key word along the way and exactly what gave the AA84 Syndicate the courage to go on, after Silly Boy had 41 winless starts with three top trainers, is anyone's guess.

When Millard took delivery of Silly Boy - after David Hayes, Almond Lee Yee-tat and Danny Shum Chap-shing had all given him their best shots and come up short - he knew there would be some very real challenges ahead.

'I'm certainly not critical of anyone, but we discovered the horse had some real problems, and a number of them,' Millard explained.

Millard, whose father Terence was one of South Africa's greatest trainers, is a firm believer in the use of blood analysis technology and has made it his business to understand the subtle differences in all the key indicators of a 'blood picture'.

'We had to get his body right, which we did by changing his feeding around significantly - we did a lot of work with the help of [veterinary surgeon Chris Riggs,' Millard said.

'We also had a number of issues that the chiropractor had to work on and correct. And there was the mental side too. He was not a happy horse.

'When you'd take him out on the track, he'd just want to take off. He only had two speeds - stopped and flat out - and you can't train any horse like that. He had to learn to start relaxing. Our job was to try and make him a more happy, contented horse.'

Every trainer knows the frustration in taking on hopeless cases and for a long time, Silly Boy probably fitted that description perfectly. Horses don't get a zero-from 41 career scoreline by accident.

But when they finally got him to the barrier trials on April 25, Millard knew the chestnut, whose sire Secret Savings was a Group One winner in Australia, had turned the corner.

'He's led on the bridle and was still three lengths in front and travelling easily at the 200 metres,' Millard recalled. 'That's when I thought 'boy, what have we got here?''

A sharp 400m breeze-up last Sunday with another of the horses Millard has turned around, Strawberry Kisses, convinced the trainer that Silly Boy's day had finally arrived.

'I came to the races really thinking he could win, but naturally you never think they're going to win by that sort of margin. I'm just delighted for the owners that they've finally got a win with him. I know he'll get a fair [handicap] penalty for that win, but who's to say, after that display, he couldn't win again.'

Silly Boy continued a marvellous season for Millard that has been franked by his achievements in similar circumstances - turning around rejects.

This term alone, he has won with eight horses that have come from other stables and they've collectively won 11 races.

Of course, the danger in such feats of horsemanship is that it sends out the wrong message.

And instead of attracting better class horses, owners of other slow goats start beating a path to the stable door hoping to find their own miracle cure.

Millard can just hope there'll be a sprinkling of better-class horses among them. He's earned it.