Trainer Bob Tiller made headlines for years with his star sprinter, the now-retired eight-time Sovereign Award winner and Canadian Hall of Famer Pink Lloyd .
Now, Tiller is capturing stakes races in the short-distance ranks again, this time with a younger Ontario-bred gelding, 3-year-old Patches O’Houlihan . The son of Reload , owned and bred by Frank Di Giulio Jr., won his first graded stakes race Aug. 20 in the CA$170,000 Bold Venture Stakes (G3) at Woodbine, the sprinter’s fifth win in a row.
In charge from the start under jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, Patches O’Houlihan appeared to be traveling comfortably while clear on the lead in Sunday’s 6 1/2-furlong race on Tapeta, posting splits of :22.68 and :44.61. But soon after the field turned into the stretch, threats emerged, with Old Chestnut ranging up on pacesetter’s outside and longshot Last American Exit rallying on the inside.
But under right-handed urging from Fukumoto, Patches O’Houlihan, the lone 3-year-old in the field, turned them aside and inched away a bit late, winning by 1 1/4 lengths over Last American Exit. The winner was timed in 1:15.34 for the distance and returned $6.30 as the favorite in the field of nine.
“He’s a nice horse,” Fukumoto said. “When a horse came beside him, he took off again.”
Tiller said he and Di Giulio, for whom he said he has trained for 43 years, went back and forth in deciding whether to run Patches O’Houlihan against older, graded horses in the Bold Venture or await a softer spot.
Their horse proved he belonged, improving his career record to 6-for-7. His only defeat came in the Bull Page Stakes last year when he had a challenging trip in a turf race and yielded to sixth.
Tiller, a Canadian Hall of Famer, won the Bold Venture for the fourth time after previously winning the race with Pink Lloyd in 2020-21 and with Are You Serious in 2006.
“I don’t want to say he’s a Pink Lloyd, but he’s a super-good horse,” Tiller said of Patches O’Houlihan. “This is a big thrill for me.”
3-1 third favorite Old Chestnut flattened out to be third after chasing the pace and looming in midstretch.
Patches O’Houlihan, out of the six-time-winning Silent Name mare Maythefourthbwithu , is one of two winners of his dam’s six foals and her only stakes winner. Her two youngest foals are a 2-year-old named May and June and an unnamed colt born this year. Both are by Souper Speedy .
Video: Bold Venture S. (G3)
Also on the card, X-Men Racing 3, StarLadies Racing, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing’s Airosa darted through an opening on the inside to win the CA$143,750 Catch a Glimpse Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
The Kevin Attard-trained daughter of Uncle Mo ran 6 1/2 furlongs on a firm E.P. Taylor Turf Course in 1:14.68 under Rafael Hernandez. She paid $7.80.
Favored Ready to Jam rallied through traffic to finish second, a length behind the winner. Never Silent was third.
Video: Catch A Glimpse S. (BT)
Trainer Mark Casse ran 1-2 an hour later in the CA$125,000 Soaring Free Stakes when Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ frontrunning Golden Canary outlasted Tracy Farmer’s Dancing Duchess by a neck.
Sahin Civaci was aboard Golden Canary ($17.10), a 2-year-old daughter of Medaglia D’Oro , who raced 6 1/2 furlongs on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in 1:15.47. Her only other start had been a runner-up finish to Airosa.
Another filly, the Attard-trained Rhapsody , ran third in the Soaring Free, an open race for 2-year-olds.
Video: Soaring Free S. (BT)
Editor’s Note: BloodHorse’s on-track coverage of King’s Plate Weekend is partially funded with travel provided by Woodbine.
