There’s a gorgeous individual going through his early preps at Sunshine Meadows training center and there are those who say he (Maverick) looks every inch his million-dollar price tag self at this stage. Maverick is the full brother to last year’s brilliant trotting colt Greenshoe by young siring sensation Father Patrick from the gifted Donato Hanover mare Designed to Be, she with a record of 3,1:51 3/5 and earnings of $656,166. Maverick is her second foal. Designed To Be is from a succession of black-type producing mares, though only she via her first born son Greenshoe would be considered the dam of a potential “great” as indicated by the visible first four dams on Maverick’s immediate catalog page. As for Maverick, is he a potential all-time great as well? Let’s see what the analytics say. Other than Romeo Hanover and Romulus Hanover, Stephan Smith and Irvin Paul, it’s hard to think of back-to-back full brothers of comparable SUPER ability. There are numerous examples of good full brothers like Muscle Mass and Muscle Massive, though neither would be considered an all-time great. Certainly Muscle Hill has no comparable brother even though his dam Yankee Blondie visited his sire Muscles Yankee several times.  For that matter, neither Speedy Scot, Scott Frost, Adios Butler, Albatross, Cam Fella, Niatross, Nihilator, Mack Lobell, Nevele Pride, Super Bowl, Speedy Crown, or Somebeachsomewhere, have remotely comparable brothers.  Of those, Speedy Scot’s full brother Speedy Streak did win the Hambletonian, but he was hardly in a league with his all-time great brother. Donato Hanover was a top, almost great colt. His full brother Detour Hanover was anything but that despite his $825,000 yearling price tag. They tabbed Good Humor Man as almost Thoroughbred-like for his brilliant physical appearance, but the then record-priced pacing yearling could barely approach his moderate full brother Jolly Roger, let alone his great older brother Most Happy Fella. Then again, Meadow Skipper almost never “repeated” and the annals are full of non-performing brothers and sisters to Albatross and his other superstars. Ralph Hanover and Raven Hanover are probably his closest in ability “full brothers” although neither qualifies as ‘great’. Somolli was bred to Speedy Crown every year of her life but had but one Speedy Somolli. Late brothers Andover Hall, Conway Hall and Angus Hall were comparable but not great. Therein could be the common denominator as the dam Amour Angus does qualify as an all-time “great” producing broodmare with a noticeable affinity towards the sire Garland Lobell. In many ways the Amour Angus-Garland Lobell nick is similar to the affection Romola Hanover showed Dancer Hanover, providing that otherwise stallion obscurity with three championship offspring in Romeo Hanover, Romulus Hanover and Romalie Hanover. The great Tarport Cheer did produce a brother and sister of comparable ability in Tyler B and and Tarport Hap, although their celebrated $625,000 yearling full sister Laugh A Day was anything but that. Southwind Serena produced Mission Brief and $800,000 yearling Tactical Landing via Muscle Hill, though the latter took his sweet time until the middle of his 3-year-old year before showing ability. It should be noted that Muscle Hill is on the verge of becoming perhaps the leading trotting sire of all time. Way back, Even Song produced several notables to Volomite but none was comparable to her greatest Volo Song, although Victory Song was a major stakes horse and sire. Still there are those historians that consider Volo Song in the same breath as Greyhound, but I’ve never read that about Victory Song. Of late, there are Bettor’s Delight and Roll With Joe, two sons of Cam’s Card Shark and Classic Wish of somewhat comparable racing ability, though the age differential is 10 full years. During that time, Classic Wish saw Cam’s Card Shark on four other occasions, producing nothing comparable to Bettor’s Delight and Roll With Joe, although her Pacific Fella offspring No Pan Intended is in that ballpark. What this does is put Classic Wish on a par with Amour Angus, Romola Hanover, Tarport Cheer and other great broodmares who did indeed churn them out with some regularity. Whether or not Roll With Joe will approach Bettor’s Delight as a super-sire remains to be seen, though from what he’s shown thus far, he’ll be good but not quite comparable. That Father Patrick is an established stallion star is beyond question, even at this early stage. That he will be capable of catching lightning in a bottle as far as great sons and daughters seems without question. That said, the impetus becomes Designed To Be and whether or not she is able to join the above named broodmares in producing multiple greatness. With his $1.1 million dollar price tag and the surrounding hoopla, Maverick will have a tough time being just “good”. Can he be great?  Undoubtedly, as the physical components are certainly apparent. Will he be great? If not he joins a long list of full brothers destined to be great horses who turned out to be not quite their sibling’s equal.