It's Patrick's last day

AU REVOIR ON THE STAR

PATRICK WEAVER steps down today after guiding Daily Star punters to more than 15,000 winners.

After a brief spell on the paper when it first moved down from Manchester in 1987, Patrick was tempted back in 2002 to take on the dual role as Racing Editor of both the newly-launched Star On Sunday and the Daily Express.

He took charge of the racing on both dailies six years ago, a role he held with his customary aplomb until yesterday.

Patrick (inset, right) regularly featured in the Racing Post Challenge, which judges national newspaper tipsters on ALL their selections. It was in that ‘nowhere-to-hide’ competition that he has maintained a consistent 25% strike rate while tipping 15,000+ winners.

Three Grand National successes in five years – Bindaree (20-1), Hedgehunter

(7-1) and Numbersixvalverde

(11-1) – left his followers very happy indeed.

Of a host of exclusive stories he has broken, he fondly remembers one under the banner “Frankie goes to Hollywood.”

A teenage Frankie Dettori broadened his horizons in more ways than one on his first riding spell in the States working for Patrick’s friend, the trainer Richard Cross.

“We took Frankie out to La Cage Aux Folles, a night club in LA, and he ended the evening with two drag queens perched on his knee,” recalls Weaver.