Maverick Mack

Recent form has been mixed. In his last six outings he has managed one win and a third-place finish, with four blanks in between—a stretch that includes a run at Punchestown just days before Elliott's stable tour in late October, when he admitted the horse hadn't run well. Despite that, the trainer sounded upbeat about what lies ahead. He believes Maverick Mack will come into his own once he lines up over hurdles, the first jumping discipline, where horses need a different temperament and technique than they do sprinting on the flat. That's a meaningful statement from a man who has sent out 210 winners this season alone from Longwood, his Co Meath yard.

Maverick Mack is still running, having raced just a day ago, so he remains in active work. His career win rate sits at roughly one in every seven races so far, which is lean, but the stage appears set for him to prove himself at a new discipline. If Elliott's hunch is right—and a trainer of his caliber doesn't usually speak this positively about a horse without reason—Maverick Mack's real story might only just be beginning.