Max Meridius

The real pattern in Max Meridius's record is distance. Over two miles or further, he has won one from ten races, which works out at roughly one win per ten attempts. That's exactly double his overall win rate, and it tells you where his strength lies. In shorter races he wins roughly one from every fifty starts, which is essentially never. Thomas Mullins at Goresbridge has him in a yard that's sent out just two winners all season, so this is a modest operation working with modest horses. Max Meridius fits that bill perfectly — his entire career earnings suggest a horse at a lower level, competing against others much like himself.

What makes him interesting now is that he's still active and racing regularly. His last six runs show him bouncing between fourth and eleventh place, with no shows on the card recently. For a horse with his record, that's simply where horses of this ability tend to live — stuck in the middle distance, chasing a second win that may never come. But he hasn't given up chasing it, and Mullins keeps running him. Max Meridius is a genuine journeyman, the kind of horse you forget about as soon as the race is over, yet he keeps turning up to try.