Sea O Erin Breeders' Cup Mile H.
(T 8f ,)
THERECOMESATIGER
(DK B/ g,
116
lb) $60,000
Tiger Ridge —Come Tight , by
Artistry (SAF)
B—Charles Patton,
FL.;
O—Charles R. Patton;
T—Thomas F. Proctor
Le Cinquieme Essai
(CH g,
121
lb) $30,000
Fastness (IRE) —Words of Royalty , by
Regal Classic
B—W. J. Scott,
ON.;
O—William A. Scott;
T—Paul Nielsen
Fort Prado
(GR/RO h,
121
lb) $11,000
El Prado (IRE) —Fort Pond , by
Fortunate Prospect
B—David P. Block,
IL.;
O—Team Block;
T—Chris M. Block
Margins: head, 2¼, 1. Others: Rapid Proof 115($9,000) , Cougar Cat 113($4,500) , Kid Grindstone 117 . Winning Jockey, Mark Guidry.
Chuck Patton’s 4-year-old homebred gelding Therecomesatiger stalked five rivals to win the Sea O Erin Breeders’ Cup Mile Handicap by a head Aug. 5. The $114,500 Arlington Park contest marked the second stakes victory for the Florida-bred son of Tiger Ridge, who most recently ran third in the Firecracker Breeders’ Cup Handicap (gr. IIT) at Churchill Downs. His other black-type win came in the Commonwealth Turf Stakes last November, also on the Louisville grass.
Placing in two additional stakes contests in his nine-start career, Therecomesatiger made his 2006 debut at Arlington Park in May after a five-month layoff. He has earned $265,529 for Patton and trainer Thomas Proctor, who has conditioned the gelding in all his starts.
For more than 10 years, Patton has shared in the success of Peter Vegso’s The Racing Edge Farm near Ocala, Fla., where he serves as farm manager. The operation has produced recent graded stakes winners Splendid Blended (gr. I), Silver Tree (gr. II), Go Between (gr. II), and Orchard Park (gr. III).
Patton has a small Ocala farm of his own called Patton’s Place. In addition to Therecomesatiger, he had a stroke of luck in breeding To Freedom, winner of the Lafayette (gr. III) at Keeneland and Jaipur (gr. III) Stakes at Belmont Park in the early 1990s.
Therecomesatiger was produced from the Artistry mare Come Tight, who was also bred in Florida by Patton. Patton purchased Therecomesatiger’s granddam, Critical (by Critique) privately for $700 with the idea of breeding her to Artistry in mind. Critical, who Patton considered “a good conformation mare,” produced two fillies by the stallion, the second of which was Come Tight.
Unplaced in three starts, Come Tight had better luck as a broodmare, as she now the dam of six foals, including stakes-placed Herecomesacat (by Storm Creek).
“(Come Tight) usually has pretty good-looking foals,” said Patton. “(Therecomesatiger) was pretty ornery as a foal, but other than that, he was pretty nice.”
Barren to the cover of Honor Glide this year, Come Tight has an unraced 2-year-old filly, Therecomeskitty (by Storm Creek), and a yearling filly, Tight Precision (by Pure Precision). She is in foal to Tiger Ridge on a Feb. 9 cover.
Tiger Ridge is the sire of eight stakes winners, including other 2006 added-money winners Savona (Mex-I) and Leah’s Secret. Tiger Ridge stood the 2006 season for $7,500 at Randall Hartley and Dean De Renzo’s Hartley/De Renzo, Walmac South near Ocala, Fla. He was sold to Mary Slack to stand in South Africa at her Wilgerbosdrift Stud.—E.M.
