Maximilian to miss remainder of the season

Maximilian, one of last season’s leading novice hurdlers, will miss the entirety of the current campaign due to injury.

The seven-year-old has won five of his seven starts to date for trainer Donald McCain and the Owners Group and was last seen finishing second in Grade One company at Aintree.

The form of that race could hardly have worked out better, with the winner Apple Away, third-placed Iroko and fourth home Stay Away Fay all making the mark over fences this term, and Maximilian himself was due to embark on a novice chasing campaign before injury intervened.

Connections had initially he hoped he would return to competitive action early in the new year, but have now had to draw stumps for the season.

“Unfortunately he won’t be back until next autumn,” said the owners’ racing manager Dan Downie.

“It’s obviously frustrating, but the main thing is he’ll be fine and it’s one of those things really.

“It would have been interesting to see how he got on, but hopefully we’ll have a much more positive conversation in a year’s time.”