Patron Saint | |
---|---|
Sire | St Girons |
Grandsire | St Simon |
Dam | VMC |
Damsire | Common |
Sex | Gelding |
Foaled | 1923[1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Colour | Bay |
Owner | F W Keen |
Trainer | Stanley Harrison |
Major wins | |
Cheltenham Gold Cup (1928) |
Patron Saint (foaled 1923) was a British racehorse who won the 1928 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Patron Saint was a bay gelding bred in the United Kingdom. He was sired by St Girons, a son of St Simon, who all sired the Grand Sefton Steeplechase winner Inversible. Patron Saint's dame VCB was a distant descendant of Canezou, who won the 1000 Guineas in 1848 and later became an influential broodmare.[2]
During his racing career Patron Saint was owned by F W Rees and was trained near Bangor-on-Dee in Wales by Stanley Harrison.[3]
The early spring of 1928 was exceptionally cold and led to fears that the Cheltenham Festival would be abandoned but a break in the weather allowed the meeting to take place.[3] Patron Saint was entered in the Gold Cup as a five-year-old meaning that he carried seven pounds less that his early rivals. With the leading chaser of the season Easter Hero absent, the 1926 Gold Cup winner Koko started the 4/5 favourite ahead of Patron Saint on 7/2[4] whilst the most notable of the other five runners was the 1927 Grand National winner Sprig.[5] Ridden by Dick Rees, Patron Saint tracked Koko before being driven up on the inside to take a slight lead at the final fence. Koko still looked the more likely winner but broke a blood vessel[3] and dropped back to third, allowing Patron Saint to draw clear and win by four lengths from the thirteen-year-old veteran Vive. On his next start Patron Saint finished third on a flat race in which he was ridden by Noel Murless, later to become a leading trainer.[3]
Patron Saint was expected to defend his Gold Cup title in 1929 but missed the race after suffering a series of injuries and training problems an missed the race. He returned in 1930 and won the Plodders Chase at Nottingham Racecourse, but never won again.[3]
In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Patron Saint a "poor" Gold Cup winner.[6]
Sire St Girons (GB) 1908 |
St Simon (GB) 1881 |
Galopin | Galopin |
---|---|---|---|
St Angela | |||
St Angela | King Tom | ||
Adeline | |||
Acunha (GB) 1894 |
Tristan | Hermit | |
Thrift | |||
Polenta | Coltness | ||
Modena | |||
Dam VMC (GB) 1911 |
Common (GB) 1888 |
Isonomy | Sterling |
Isola Bella | |||
Thistle | Scottish Chief | ||
The Flower Safety | |||
Hoot (GB) 1906 |
The Owl | Wisdom | |
Rattlewings | |||
Graceless | Common | ||
Grace Emily (Family 31)[2] |
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: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)