Father Patrick unfolding his talent at five

KINGSTON, Jamaica - FATHER Patrick, a five-year-old bay gelded son of Nuclear Wayne conditioned for racing by trainer Ian Parsard, continues to demonstrate his growing talent under the watchful eyes of his conditioner.

Following knee surgery as a three-year-old Father Patrick has taken his time, being handled gingerly by his connections, and is now showing with every run that he is more than capable.

Father Patrick produced another eye-catching performance to score an emblematic 1 1/2-length victory in the St Catherine Cup feature among Open Allowance three-year-olds and upwards campaigners at a distance of six furlongs (1200 metres), at Caymanas Park on Saturday (Jan 16).

Ridden by the promising two-kilo claiming apprentice rider Oshane Nugent, Father Patrick, back up in class, came forward determinedly with an engaging run inside the final furlong as the 3-2 choice who honoured his favouritism, continuing from where he left off in December of last year.

The five-year-old bay gelding completed the distance on offer in 1:12.0, based on fractions of 22.2, 45.3.

Duke, ridden by Robert Halledeen, a 6/1 choice who won over the distance in the lower grade last November, was second with Universal Boss, a winner in December of last year finishing third under Omar Walker. Patriarch, the mount of Dane Nelson, completed the frame as a 6/1 choice in the 10-horse field.

“Looking at the gelding’s coupling up and forceful, final furlong run was heartening.

“It is a challenge with Father Patrick. He is a horse that is recovering from knee surgery from when he was a three-year-old and so far, he has held up pretty well and seems to be at the point of good improvement right now.

“I will say that any distance from six to seven furlongs right now is within his capacity. We do some swimming with him and we try to be judicious with him on the track with his exercise programme, just to ensure that we preserve him for his race day commitments.

“So far this has worked well with him the last few times it was done, and we are hoping that this will be productive and we can keep the trend going,” Parsard said in his post-race interview.