Father Patrick claims Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame Stakes Trophy

With the withdrawal of his more-decorated and touted stablemate, Mahogany, the ian Parsard-conditioned Father Patrick

seized the opportunity to easily brush aside rivals to win the $2-million thoroughbred Racing hall of Fame Stakes trophy feature at Caymanas Park yesterday.

Ridden by apprentice Jordan Barrett, Father Patrick, toting a mere 50.0kgs (110lb), outran rivals by 4 ¾ lengths to win the three-year-old and upward Open

Allowance/graded Stakes event going six furlongs (1200m). He won in a decent time of 1:11.4 minutes for the distance.

It was a three-way tussle for the lead among Father Patrick and stablemates God of Love (Dane Nelson) and Patriarch

(Youville Pinnock) in the early stages. At the half mile (800m), both Patriarch and Father Patrick drew off from God of Love

approaching the distance. Father Patrick

then responded well to the urging from Barrett and sprinted clear from rivals for an easy win in the end. Eagle One (Dick

Cardenas) came on well for second place with God of Love finishing in third spot.

Winning two races on the 10-race programme were trainers Nicholas Smith and Gary Griffiths and jockeys Samantha Fletcher and Shane Ellis.

Smith saddled Storm Princess (Anthony Thomas) in the second race and Jamai Raja (Fletcher) in the fourth race, while Griffiths was successful with Smarty Tradition (Ellis) in the sixth race and Regal and Royal (Tevin Foster) in the 10th and final event.

Fletcher won aboard El Gringo in the fifth race for trainer Donovan Russell for her double and Ellis closed his double aboard True Al Sky in the seventh race for trainer Al Brown.

Meanwhile, racing was halted for more than half-hour following a strike by the jockeys before the start of the eighth race. The jockeys, along with trainers, were upset following the search for illegal devices conducted by the operations stewards.

Racing continues next Saturday.