He thought this whole thing was probably a wild goose chase, but it wouldn't be his first one.
It may be a wild goose chase, for all I know, but the chance is worth taking.
This would most probably end as a wild goose chase.
In many ways, this book is really about a wild goose chase.
You never should have taken off on this wild goose chase.
"I still say this is all a wild goose chase."
Instead of that, he had become involved in what was most likely a wild goose chase.
"Just what sort of a wild goose chase have you sent me on?"
"Both of us think that the other is on a wild goose chase."
It would seem that so far his quest was a wild goose chase.