Milensnake was a horse who made trainers throw up their hands in frustration - until he found an extremely patient one.

Not only did his former trainers want to unload him, track riders also shunned the gelding.

Steve Lenehan was just what he needed - someone to give him the individual attention he needed to tone down his wayward manners.

Lenehan said Milensnake was scratched twice at the barriers because of his poor manners, but he persevered.

"That's why I've got the horse," he said.

"He's been with other trainers and I think they saw potential but he's been quite erratic at times, to the point where they couldn't get track riders to even ride him.

Now the six-year-old is less of a delinquent.

"I've got him just about right, but occasionally he has a little relapse," he said.

Lenehan came to an arrangement to buy Milensnake last year after he was ostracised by trainers and languished in a paddock for 12 months.

"He had such a reputation that no-one wanted to take him on, so the owner came back to me and I offered him a deal and purchased the horse."

Lenehan only has three horses in work and says Milensnake would not fit into a big operation.

"I've had to treat him a bit differently, with quite a gentle approach - and now he wants to work for me," he said.

Milensnake will run in the Robert Hunter Handicap (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday, more as an experiment than anything else, following a last-start Murtoa win and a reasonable third at Moonee Valley before that.

"It's a huge step in class and a big step in distance so it's going to be quite a test for him," Lenehan said.

"I just want to test the horse, just to find out how good he is."

Both horse and trainer are planning to learn from the run.

"He does everything like a true stayer. I think he's going to be well out of his class but I'm still learning myself.

"But I don't want to miss an opportunity if he is good enough and I just haven't noticed it," he said.

Milensnake is quoted at $17 in a race in which betting is dominated by the David Hayes-trained Whisper Downs who comes off a last-start 1800m win at Caulfield.