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.