It will be a year since Captain Maverick graced a racecourse on Saturday, and it was at a much different site to wintery afternoon at Rosehill.

Captain Maverick won last August during the Galway festival, a racing extravaganza that boasts the biggest bar in Ireland. So it seems right that he will carry the shamrock colours of affable Irishman Noel Greenhalgh on his Australian debut.

“I have never been to Galway races but I have heard it’s fantastic,” Greenhalgh said. “Galway is a great place, and add racing and it would be wild.

“The Captain won there before we got him, and it has taken a while to get back to the track.”

Captain Maverick broke his maiden at Galway under the care of Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Dermot Weld before being recommended to Greenhalgh and a group of Hawthorn AFL players.

“We had got one from Dermot that didn’t work out, and he said he would find us another horse as a replacement and this is the one,” Greenhalgh said.

“It’s the same group which owned Irish Sequel, and we are hoping he can live up to what he did and win a group race.

“Chris [Waller] has liked what he has done since arriving, but it sometimes takes a run or two for this sort of horse to show his best.

“If he can win a couple of races, it might get me to Galway.”