Father Patrick’s progeny star at The Red Mile
The second week of Grand Circuit racing at The Red Mile, Lexington, Kentucky proved a bonanza for the progeny of Father Patrick, with a slew of 2yo International Stallion Stake winners and his super-star son Greenshoe taking out the meeting’s blue-riband feature, the $450,000 Kentucky Futurity.
This year’s Futurity featured the majority of North America’s best 3-year-old trotters, but despite that it proved little more than a training run for the brilliant Greenshoe (pictured), with the Marcus Melander trained colt looming up to take the lead past the half-way point and simply cruising to the line, untouched, to score by two lengths in a time 1:51.2 on a rain affected track. Watch replay.
It was Greenshoe’s 12th career win and took his lifetime earnings to $1,241,273.
Earlier in the week the multiple Dan Patch Award winner’s progeny dominated the International Stallions Stake divisions for 2-year-old trotters, with them taking out four of the seven splits contested.
The Carter Pinske trained gelding Amigo Volo matched his Bluegrass Stakes world record performance, winning in 1:52.6 despite a mid-race break. It was Amigo Volo’s fourth win of the year and improved his earnings to $214,696.
The lightly raced freshman colt, Big Oil became Father Patrick’s latest $100,000 performer, with a massive effort to deadheat with the unbeaten divisional leader Real Cool Sam in the last of the colts and geldings’ splits.
The following day the fillies Sherry Lyns Lady and Madame Sherry proved too strong in their divisions, with the former easily accounting for her rivals and the latter a gritty winner over fellow Father Patrick filly Heaven.
The Jim Campbell trained Sherry Lyns Lady has emerged as one of the season’s best juvenile trotting fillies, having won three and placed in six of her 10 starts to date for $300,554 in stakes earnings, whilst Madame Sherry is the winner of two races and just under $80,000.
Aside from the four winners, Father Patrick was also represented by the place-getters Sister Sledge ($292,602), Heaven ($53,142), Synergy ($146,546), Crucial ($135,639) and Shishito ($231,512).
The two-time Breeders Crown winner has made a massive impact with his first two crops of racing age, producing North America’s best 3-year-old trotter from his first crop of just 44 live foals and with his second, commercial sized, crop, is challenging the great Muscle Hill as the leading sire of juvenile trotters in 2019.