There is nothing in particular in the pedigree of New Zealand-bred two-year-old Patriarch to suggest he is a pacer out of the box and destined to be a star.
But the powerfully-built colt gives every indication that he is set for stardom after winning effortlessly at his first two appearances in Australia.
He was the $1.70 favourite when he raced without cover before surging to the front 550m from home and dashing away to win by two lengths from $23 chance The Final Offer in the 1730m Westral Verishade Curtains Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Patriarch, trained by Michael Young and driven by Emily Suvaljko, rated 1.55.2 after final 400m sections of 27.9sec. and 28.3sec.
This victory followed his Australian debut at Gloucester Park ten days earlier when he raced wide early and then in the breeze before winning by five lengths from Methuselah, rating 1.55.8 over 2130m.
Patriarch obviously has inherited much of the brilliance of his sire t Lazarus, who earned $4,125,988 from 37 wins and 12 placings from 51 starts, including his victory in the 2017 Interdominion Championship at Gloucester Park.
Patriarch is the sixth foal out of the New Zealand-bred mare Motu Make A Splash, a daughter of American sire Lis Mara, who raced four times in modest company in New Zealand as a four-year-old for one win over 1609m at Rangiora in April 2015.
Motu Make A Splash’s first five foals Hugo George (37 starts for four wins, seven placings and $33,080), Write About Angus (79 starts for six country wins, 19 placings and $47,941), National News (37 starts for eight wins in moderate company, 11 placings and $64,607), Sporty Reporter (three starts for a 13TH, 10TH and 8TH) and Vince Almighty (13TH at his only start) have been only modest performers.
“Patriarch is still quite green and down the back in the last lap he didn’t want to run past the leader Nite Sniper,” said Suvaljko. “His two runs here have proved he is quite tough.”
Young agreed and said: “Patriarch seems like he is pretty strong, and he doesn’t seem to mind racing in the breeze, and you would expect him to go faster when he finds the front in his races.
“He has been impressive in winning at his first two starts here. It is probably a shame we didn’t get him here a bit earlier because he wouldn’t have been out of place in the Golden Slipper. He is a nice big strong horse who wasn’t cheap or stupidly expensive.”
Young, who is leading the State trainers’ premiership table with 112 winners, completed a double on Friday night when Gary Hall jnr drove four-year-old mare Majestic Ga Ga, the $2.30 favourite, to victory in the Westral Honeycomb Blinds Handicap for trotters.
Majestic Ga Ga began safely from the 30m mark and ran on from fourth (one-out and one-back) at the bell to take the lead on the home turn and win by a length from Quiggley ($2.90) by a length.
“She has a very good turn of foot, which generally speaking, trotters here don’t have,” said Hall. “When you have a trotter who has that good point-to-point speed, they generally stand out.”
