Father Patrick heads to fulltime stallion duty
August 14, 2015,by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications
Ken Weingartner
Freehold, NJ — With Father Patrick’s racing career now completed, breeder and co-owner Adam Bowden is looking forward to the next phase of the trotter’s career as a fulltime stallion.
The 4-year-old Father Patrick did double duty this season as a race horse and stallion. Diamond Creek Farm, owned by Bowden and his father Chris, is managing the multiple Dan Patch Award honoree’s breeding career. Bowden said he learned earlier this week that Father Patrick would be retired because of a lung infection.
Trained by Jimmy Takter, Father Patrick won 23 of 33 lifetime races, finished second on six occasions, and earned $2.55 million. He received Dan Patch Awards following his freshman season in 2013 and his sophomore season in 2014. He is owned by the Father Patrick Stable, a group made up of Brixton Medical Inc., Diamond Creek Farm LLC, John Fielding, Christina Takter, Brittany Farms, and the partnership of Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld and Sam Goldband.
Father Patrick is a son of stallion Cantab Hall out of the mare Gala Dream. He is a full brother to Dan Patch Award winner Pastor Stephen as well as stakes-winner Whom Shall I Fear. His mother, Gala Dream, is a half-sister to Dan Patch Award winner Chocolatier and stakes-winner Sugar Trader.
“Pedigree, looks, race record — he checks all the boxes,” Bowden said. “It doesn’t hurt that Jimmy said he’s the best horse he ever trained. He had class and charisma on the track and he exhibited the same qualities in the breeding shed this year. He took to his job easily. He was able to differentiate between breeding and racing. We were happy.”
Bowden said Father Patrick bred 73 mares this year and 58 are in foal.
“That was sort of a trial run and now we’re ready for the big leagues,” Bowden said. “We were very happy, considering there were weeks where he only bred twice because of a race. He had an intermittent schedule throughout the year between qualifying and racing. But everybody was flexible with us and he got a great group of mares.”
Father Patrick’s wins included the Breeders Crown at ages 2 and 3 plus last year’s Canadian Trotting Classic, Earl Beal Jr. Memorial, Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial, Stanley Dancer Memorial, and American-National Stakes. In 2013, his victories also included the William Wellwood Memorial and Peter Haughton Memorial.
His 1:50.2 win in the Beal at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono is the fastest mile ever by a 3-year-old on a five-eighths-mile track. He also holds the world record for a 2-year-old colt on the same sized oval, with a mark of 1:52.1.
This year, Father Patrick won one of five starts — capturing the Maxie Lee Memorial Invitational by two lengths over Bee A Magician on May 24 at Harrah’s Philadelphia — finished second twice and earned $120,995. He finished sixth in his final two races, the most recent on July 18 in the Hambletonian Maturity. His runner-up efforts came to JL Cruze in preliminary rounds of the Graduate Series.
“Even though he lost to JL Cruze, he lost by a neck and a half-length in 1:51 and 1:50.4,” Bowden said. “You can’t complain about those two efforts. Clearly in his last two races something wasn’t right.
“But Father Patrick is a great horse and we expect great things from his foals.”