But the truth is stranger than fiction in this case.
The Joanne Hillis-trained gelding, who won at Riccarton yesterday at his fifth career start in the hands of Daniel Bothamley, gained the rather unkind nickname of Buffalo at Wingatui for his unattractive head.
''Basically, he's got such an ugly head that if you put a horn on it, he would look like a buffalo,'' Hillis said, laughing.
''But because of Buffalo Man being a sire, you can't get any names with Buffalo. When I rang up to see if I could get Buffalo Soldier or Buffalo Bill, they said no. But William, our son, had Wild Bill written on the back of his T-shirts when he played rugby, so I said `what about Wild Bill?' and they said `yes, you can have that'.''
Wild Bill is actually ''quiet as a lamb'' around Hillis' training establishment, but is producing plenty of fire on the track, placing three times from his four starts before yesterday.
He took care of Mistaken Identity and 10 other rivals yesterday by 2 lengths, which has prompted Hillis to reconsider her plans to turn him out.
''He is a little bit special - I don't think he's special special - but he's a little special, and I think if I could see him on top of the ground, it would make it easier to place him.''
Wild Bill was one of two purchases Hillis made at the weanling and mixed bloodstock sale at Karaka in 2010.
''It was a very hard weanling sale to buy anything at,'' she said.
''I paid $9000 for him and I don't normally pay that sort of money.
''He's been slowly learning. He's a big horse and he's still growing.''
Hillis also gave Bothamley probably the most unusual riding instructions of any jockey at Riccarton yesterday - or perhaps of any jockey all year.
''The riding instructions to Daniel were `I went shopping yesterday, Daniel, and I filled up the Visa card a little bit. Please compensate me'.''
