Just like the television series, the drama never seems to end in the race to be crowned Sydney's top apprentice.
Through blow-ups with masters, blues with stewards and self-imposed sabbaticals, it seems this season's leading contenders could have easily slipped into the role of their television namesakes.
Brodie Loy might be the exception rather than the rule. He has chipped away, largely without fuss, to establish himself in the ultra-competitive Sydney riding ranks.
His first Saturday metropolitan double at Randwick on Anzac Day suggests that process is underway.
"It's good to finally start getting opportunities and to make the most of them," Loy said.
"I'm more professional [now] and I'm really happy with my circumstances now. You've just got to learn from your mistakes and make the best of them. Don't make the same mistake twice."
The mistake the 18-year-old refers to was his publicised referral to the riding skills panel when bowling along at breakneck speed on cult hero The Cleaner - long before the Tasmanian burst into the public conscience - when the raw-boned apprentice had a short stint in Melbourne.
Suffice to say Loy's preference was there for all to see in his race-to-race double at Randwick, which was achieved on a pair of backmarkers allowed to build into the race.
The numbers suggest Loy is going to have to pull something remarkable out of the hat over the final few months of the season to eat into Winona Costin's (31) lead for the apprentice title.
But after chalking up his 11th city win for the term he is at least talking a big game as Costin later responded with victory on Dowdstown Charlie for David Payne.
Her tally has idled in recent months after a spat with master Gai Waterhouse before the pair patched things up. Samantha Clenton (12) fell foul of the stewards and Taylor Marshall (10) has only just returned from a break.
"Obviously Winona's out in front and she's going to be hard to beat, but nothing beats confidence and I'm full of it at the moment," said Loy, just four winners shy of losing his three-kilogram claim.
The same can be said of trainer John Sargent, who handed Loy his second winner - Swift Lady, another fit horse backing up on rain-affected ground who ambled to victory.
Sargent has trained winners of the Victoria Oaks, Australian Oaks, Queensland Oaks and New Zealand Oaks in recent seasons and isn't ruling out the grey following Quintessential's footsteps during the Brisbane winter carnival.
"We're starting to hit our straps now," Sargent said. "This filly is starting to hit her peak and I'm lucky enough to have bought the full brother at the ready-to-run sale this year. The owners have got another full brother getting broken in in New Zealand, so I've got the whole family.
"She's run a strong mile today and [this year's Queensland Oaks] is at Doomben and is only 2200 [metres]."
Loy painted a target on Tommy Berry and the easing Sadler's Lake in the run, quickly gobbling up the deficit in the going and pouncing for a 2½-length win. Swing Sensation was well back in third.
On Swift Lady's standing against this season's Oaks-winning filly Gust Of Wind and the VRC Oaks-placed Thunder Lady, Sargent said: "She's probably got a bit more brilliance than them as they're more staying types.
"She's a similar type of filly [to Quintessential] and she handled the wet as well. We'll see how she comes through it and whether we move onto Brisbane or she goes for a break as she's going to be a nice horse next year, but she can handle the wet and that's a big help up there."
