by Joshua Potts, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Springfield, IL — KF St Patrick hopes to have the “luck of the Irish” when he invades Maywood Park this evening (October 12), in search of a victory in the $220,000 Windy City Pace. That is because the sophomore pacing colt was foaled on March 17, 2004 — St. Patrick’s Day.

No town celebrates St. Patrick’s Day the way Chicago does. First of all, there are two enormous parades — one downtown, and the other on the south side. In neighborhood pubs throughout the Windy City, the sound of bagpipes can be heard, while patrons enjoy pints of Guinness and other Irish delights. As if this were not enough, they actually dump enough green dye into the Chicago River that the river itself turns green.

Indeed, there is no place anywhere more appropriate for KF St Patrick to collect the biggest win of his career than at the Chicago area’s very own half-mile track, Maywood Park.

KF St Patrick and driver Russell Swartz were 1:51.3 winners in their Ohio Breeders Championship division at Delaware.

The 3-year-old colt is owned by Mike Medors and Henry Kauffman, both from Ohio. By Nobleland Sam, KF St Patrick is out of the Threefold mare, K F Pro’s Baby. Medors and Kauffman also share ownership of K F Pro’s Baby.

As for the “K F” at the beginning of the horses’ names, Medors explained that it comes from Kauffman Farm.

“Hank names the horses, and he usually puts the ‘K F’ in front of them. He usually comes up with some pretty wild names,” said Medors.

Both men thought that K F Pro’s Baby would cross well with Nobleland Sam.

“KF St Patrick is her first foal,” said Medors, who not only is a part-owner, but trains the talented pacer as well. “She’s by Threefold, and Big Towner is a good cross with Nobleland Sam. So, we decided to breed her to him.”

Threefold himself is by Big Towner, out of the Albatross mare, Three Diamonds.

USTA/Ed Keys photos

Judy and Hank Kauffman, Mike Medors, and Russell Swartz celebrate with KF St Patrick in the Delaware winner’s circle.

So far, the cross has worked, because KF St Patrick has won 19 of 25 career races, $248,084 in earnings, and has a mark of 1:51f. This year, he even won Ohio’s version of the Pacing Triple Crown, dusting off his fellow Buckeye State-breds in relatively easy fashion.

“When he won the (Ohio) Triple Crown this year,” said Medors, “he set the stakes record for each of the three races.”

KF St Patrick has encountered problems, however, when he goes up against horses bred in places other than Ohio. He finished fifth, beaten five lengths, in the Little Brown Jug Preview. He finished sixth in his North America Cup elimination at Mohawk back in June. He was scratched sick out of the consolation the following week. The week after that, in a Cleveland Classic division at Northfield Park, he finished fifth after making a break before the opening quarter, 14-3/4 lengths behind the victorious Takeshigemichi.

“He keeps getting unlucky,” said Medors. “He was getting a little sick in his North America Cup (elimination). He kept sneezing. The next week, we had to scratch him. In the Cleveland Classic, he pulled a shoe. And in the Jug Preview, he had the 11-hole.”

An unlucky horse foaled on St. Patrick’s Day? How can that be?

Well, it looks like KF St Patrick’s luck may be changing for the better. At Maywood Park, where the inside posts are king, the sophomore pacer has drawn post position three. David Miller has the driving chores.

Overall, Medors feels pretty good about his charge.

“He seems to like the half-mile tracks. He’s doing everything right now. He doesn’t like to train too much, but he always plays when he gets out there.”

As the 7-2 third choice on the morning line, perhaps KF St Patrick can turn some of his bad luck around, and win his backers some “green.”

The $220,000 Windy City Pace is the fifth race on a Maywood card that you won’t want to miss. Besides the Windy City Pace, there will be other great stakes action in the $130,000 Galt for sophomore trotting colts, the $150,000 Abe Lincoln for freshman pacing colts, the $75,000 Cinderella for sophomore pacing fillies, and the $64,600 Violet for Illinois-bred freshman pacing fillies. First race post time is 7:20 p.m. (CDT).