Father Patrick sweeps Group 1 juvenile features

It was a Group 1 double for Father Patrick at Addington on Friday night, with the juvenile trotters Meant To Be and Habibti Pat taking out the Ace Of Clubs 2YO Colts and Geldings Trot and the Ace Of Hearts 2YO Fillies Trot respectively.

The in-form Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan trained Meant To Be thrashed his rivals by an incredible 17 and a half lengths despite giving them a three-length head start after he was slow scoring up to the mobile.

The win made it three stakes race victories in a row for the talented youngster with him having also claimed the Harness Million 2YO Trot and the Sires Stakes Series Championship in an unbeaten southern campaign.

It was his fifth win overall and took his earnings to $197,596 for the season.

Bred by Breckon Farms Ltd, Meant To Be is out of the Group 1 NZ Trotting Derby winning Muscle Hill mare Luby Lou.

In the $100,000 Ace Of Hearts, the Greg and Nina Hope trained Habibti Pat was a dominant winner over the fillies, leading for the majority of the race and running home untouched to score by a length.

The win was her fifth from just six starts and saw her surpass $120,000 in stakes earnings.

Bred by Julie and Sasha Maghzal, Habibti Pat is out of the Group 1 winning Love You mare Habibti Ivy.

It was the second time in three years that Father Patrick has produced the winner of both the Ace Of Clubs and the Ace Of Hearts, with Confessional and High Energy taking the races out in 2022.

With less than a month of the season to go Father Patrick looks assured of being New Zealand’s leading sire of 2-year-old trotters for the third year in a row, with a lead of over $261,000 over the second placed stallion What The Hill.