As a kid carved out of farm life in country Victoria, there is no rush to express a thought or sentiment. Behind the curls and highway patrol sunnies which have been made famous in mounting yards across Australia is a methodical thinker.

One schooled in jumping yards across Europe and hell bent on playing the patience game.

Most races are just stepping stones to the big fish waiting to be hooked later on the line. Like his words, Maher doesn't rush his horses.

It might be why  his training career has almost worked in reverse, starting with the inexpensive jumpers and staying types and now branching out to the speedy sprinting stock.

His training methods can also be described back-to-front.

Dressage is usually the domain of the retired racehorse. Maher prefers to use it on the unraced racehorse.

"We bought a farm going on two years ago, put an indoor [arena] on it and we used to do a fair bit of it at Warrnambool and I've found it provides a good foundation," Maher muses, his words trickling out to give an impression he is anything but the fiercely competitive trainer which sits beneath the calm exterior.

"They learn how to use themselves properly, they learn how to carry themselves and I think it holds them in good stead when they come into Caulfield."

The outside-the-box thinking has helped precipitate an expansion at his Melbourne base, which now has extra boxes filled with the most two-year-olds he has had in one season.

It is a far cry from the mould of horse has had made a name with, like champion jumper Bashboy. Few realise Maher also rode briefly over the sticks in a tuition which also included a stint with Bart Cummings, the biggest preacher of patience in the racing game.

"They've always appealed to me," Maher said of his foundation with hurdlers. "Working in Europe and going through different jumping yards ... and then when I kicked off my training no one gives you a horse straight off and I had to start buying.

"I saw a few that had a future as jumpers and needed some education. It's just always appealed to me ... that type of building and planning a preparation towards a target."

Many thought, but were reluctant to say it aloud, Maher might have been running a talented filly off her legs last spring when trying to get her to a Victoria Oaks in a maiden preparation. After all Set Square was still a maiden, having just her second start less than a month out from the three-year-old classic. Her trainer knew better.

A first group 1 win in seven years after Tears I Cry's Emirates Stakes boilover in 2007, when Maher was only 26, would have been reason enough for a flood of emotions in the moments after.

Maher just smiled and shrugged. He now describes the stable, in his typically understated way, as "going OK at the moment" despite its emergence as a major group 1 player around the country.

Not bad for a man who was forced to start with the unfashionable stock in the training backblocks.

"Funnily enough my best three horses in Tears I Cry, Moudre, Akavoroun — you can add Set Square to that — haven't been through a sale and have come ... not out of obscurity, but haven't had the high profile," Maher said.

The trainer's profile, maybe reluctantly, might just be a little higher after Set Square takes on the group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday en route to the Australian Oaks during The Championships.

First Seal is an overwhelming favourite, but she is starting to stumble into Set Square's domain now at 2000 metres and above.

"When you get to the bottom of them sometimes you can be doubtful what they will do after a spell, but she came through it quite well and she's always shown a natural stayer," Maher said of his charge.

"She's drawn a couple of ordinary barriers for her first-up runs and I was hoping she would draw a better barrier, but we're still out there.

"This weekend and her next race [the Australian Oaks] were her targets all along and she's had a similar preparation to her first campaign. I'm really happy with her."