However, this 16-year-old former track star has reinvented himself as a top show horse.
Making the transition from the track into another field is often difficult for thoroughbreds, and Volronomo co-owner Waldronville farrier Mark Isaacs admits the 16.2 hands gelding has been a handful at times.
"He is a beautiful animal but he hasn't been plain sailing. He'll buck you off as quick as look at you. He's got a lot of quirks.''
But the rewards come at events such as the Wanaka A&P Show this weekend when Volronomo is a top prospect in a new "off-the-track thoroughbred'' event designed to promote a useful life for horses when their racing careers end.
The event, part beauty show, will be judged on Friday by Catriona Williams who will be looking for a nice "type'' of horse that has the right characteristics for its breed.
Volronomo will also have to show how well he walks, trots, canters and halts.
The "upstanding'' chestnut with a white blaze on his chest and four white socks certainly knows how to gallop, having won $100,000 at the races in an eight-day stint in 2004.
Mr Isaacs said after succeeding in New Zealand, Volronomo was shipped to Australia but never adjusted.
"He's a bit of a worrier ... he obviously thinks a lot.''
One of Volronomo's quirks is that he sometimes refuses to drink while away from home.
Asked why he bothers with Volronomo, Mr Isaacs said "because he's got the goods''.
"He's got the presence, he's got the movement, he's got the ‘look at me'. They've got to have that bit of mongrel in them to be successful.''
Mr Issac said it was "a great thing'' for horses like Volronomo to have another career after racing.
He expected Volronomo to retire in another year so, and vowed he would not be going to a petfood factory.
