A Grade 1 winner at 2, when he had to miss the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and subsequently hampered by another injury at 3 that confined him to one start in more than 14 months, Maxfield at age 4 in 2021 was finally able to put together a proper campaign that repeatedly showcased his high-grade talent. Maxfield came into 2021 having made just four starts combined at ages 2 and 3. The patience displayed during those years by trainer Brendan Walsh and the team at Godolphin – most notably Jimmy Bell – gave Maxfield the chance to shine when finally right, and was he ever right in 2021. He put together a campaign of seven races that took him from Louisiana to California, Kentucky to New York, and back to Kentucky for an appropriate send off in the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs, where Maxfield went out a winner while recording his fourth stakes victory of the year. A finalist for the Eclipse Award as older dirt male of 2021, he retired with a record of eight wins in 11 starts and earnings of more than $2 million. “He’s been just an unbelievable horse,” Walsh said after the Clark. “I can’t say enough about the horse. He’s been fantastic from the get-go. He’s come back from the injury and been a learning experience for all of us. It’ll be hard to find another one like him.” In 2021, Maxfield won the Grade 2 Alysheba and Grade 2 Stephen Foster, also at Churchill Downs – where he was a perfect 5 for 5 during his career – as well as the Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds. He was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, a deceptively good effort in that he was trying 1 1/4 miles for the only time in his career while coming back in three weeks and having to ship. :: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Maxfield also was second in both the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga – behind Knicks Go, the division and Horse of the Year favorite – and Grade 1 Woodward at Belmont Park. The Woodward was his final start before the Clark. “It’ll be hard to say goodbye because I’m very fond of the horse,” Walsh, who magnificently guided Maxfield for three years, told Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee prior to the Clark. “Not just because he was so talented, but he’s just the coolest horse as well. We’ll miss him.” Beginning with the Alysheba, Jose Ortiz was his rider. They won three times together and were second twice in five starts. Maxfield is a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin. He is by Street Sense out of the Bernardini mare Velvety. Maxfield has returned home. Beginning this spring, Maxfield will be standing at stud at Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley America, the former Jonabell Farm, alongside his sire. With Bell having retired at year’s end from his role as president and racing manager of Godolphin’s United States operation, his savvy management of Maxfield, and Maxfield returning to his family’s old farm, seems an appropriate coda.