Sons of Father Patrick star in Northern Hemisphere features
It was a huge weekend of results in the Northern Hemisphere for trotting sire Father Patrick with his highly touted son Highland Kismet trouncing his rivals in the $225,000 Goodtimes Final for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Canada, Splendid extending his win streak to six in a Currier & Ives division, and the Swedish superstar Francesco Zet notching up his ninth Group 1 win in the Norrbotten Grand Prix in Boden, Sweden.
A dominant winner of his elimination the previous weekend, Highland Kismet went to another level in the Goodtimes Final.
Almost two lengths behind the field as the gate pulled away, Highland Kismet swept to the lead at the mid-way point and despite being taken on by the second favourite Private Access through the third quarter, the Mark Etsell trained colt simply pulled clear of the field in the straight and cruised to a three and a quarter length victory, crossing the line under a tight hold.
His winning time of 1:51.6 equalled the stakes record set by Trixton (who went on to win the Hambletonian) in 2014.
Unraced at two, Highland Kismet has now won four of his five starts and banked $149,500 in stakes earnings.
Bred and owed by Highland Thoroughbred Farm, he is out of the Muscle Hill mare Highland Top Hill.
Across the border, the progressive colt Splendid recorded his sixth straight win when taking out a division of the Currier & Ives Trot at Hollywood Casino at the Meadows, Pennsylvania, heading up a Father Patrick trifecta in the race.
Father Patrick looks to have a strong crop of 3-year-old colts in North America this season with another top line son, Security Protected, undefeated in three starts in 2024, with two Pennsylvania Sires Stakes divisions and an All Stars split under his belt this year.
In Europe, the 2022 Swedish Horse of the Year, Francesco Zet made it back to back wins in the Group 1 Norrbotten Grand Prix.
Defeating the Australasian champion Just Believe in the race last year, this time round Francesco Zet held off the local challenger Castor The Star to record a new track record for a 5YO and older male trotter of 1:53.8 for the 2,140m trip.
It was his 23rd win from 27 starts and took his earnings to SEK 20,205,000 (US$1.9 million).
Francesco Zet is out of the US bred Credit Winner mare Shaqline.
Father Patrickʻs progeny were also to the fore in New Zealand over the weekend with five winners from the 13 trot races contested – Special Effects, Gift Card, Forgiveness, Lil Whip and Halberg.