What makes this slightly puzzling is who stands behind him. Trainer Brian Ellison operates out of Norton in North Yorkshire, and his yard has sent out 47 winners already this season — that is a yard in decent nick, full of horses performing. Ellison clearly knows how to get a horse to win races. He bought Geordie Mackem as a two-year-old, which tells you there was something he liked about the horse, and back then he spoke warmly about him — describing a horse who showed plenty at home in training, bred from a high-quality mare who had been rated in the mid-140s under trainer Alan King, with a solid sire in Jack Hobbs.
That is the curious gap that sits at the heart of this profile: a horse from a productive yard, with decent breeding, who promised enough at home to make Ellison enthuse about him — yet has not converted any of that into a win on a racecourse across eight attempts. Home promise and racecourse performance are very different things, and Geordie Mackem is a reminder of that gap. It does not mean he cannot win — he raced just yesterday, so he is clearly still being aimed at opportunities — but at six years old, with the clock ticking, the pressure to deliver is only growing. There will come a point where patience has its limits, even in the most optimistic yard.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwell Galloping |
4 | 4 other | 15 Apr | 0% |
| Newcastle Galloping |
2 | 1 second, 1 other | 20 Nov | 0% |
| Ayr Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 8 Mar | 0% |
| Wetherby Galloping |
1 | 1 third | 27 Dec | 0% |