John Mackie

This season tells the clearest story of where things stand right now. Mackie has sent out 143 runners and come back with 16 winners — that's roughly 1 in every 9 races, an 11% win rate that puts him in the respectable mid-table of British trainers. It's not a yard setting the world alight, but 16 winners in a single season from a trainer only four years in is consistent, purposeful progress.

The most interesting relationship in the yard is with jockey P J McDonald, who has become something of a trusted ally. McDonald has ridden 26 times for Mackie and won on 3 of those — around 1 in every 9, a 12% win rate that mirrors the yard's overall figures almost exactly. That kind of consistency between trainer and jockey tends to mean they understand each other's horses well, and when McDonald climbs aboard a Mackie-trained runner, there's usually a plan behind it.

One detail that stands out is Mackie's record on wet or muddy ground. From just 3 runners in those conditions, he's won once — that's a 33% win rate, or 1 in 3, which is genuinely eye-catching even if the sample size is small. It suggests the yard may have a knack for identifying which horses thrive when the ground turns soft, and that's a useful edge when the weather turns.

The ongoing partnership with Sold Out is one to watch with more curiosity than optimism — 1 win from 16 races together means the horse has frustrated as often as it has delivered. But the fact the team keeps running it speaks to belief in the horse, and sometimes that patience is eventually rewarded. With 50 career winners banked and a yard that wins at a steady clip, Mackie looks like a trainer on a quiet but deliberate upward curve.