TORONTO, Canada, CMC – Barbadian ace Patrick Husbands produced contrasting rides to capture two of the five stakes races on Saturday’s ten-race card at Woodbine.
The 51-year-old made all the running aboard a 2-1 chance Paramount Prince in race eight to win the Grade III CAN$150 000 Dominion Day Stakes by 3-¾ lengths before returning in the very next race with a stalking ride to get 5-1 choice Essex Serpent to the wire a length clear in the $150 000 HPIbet Marine Stakes, also a Grade III event.
Husbands now have 18 wins from 71 outings and $1.08 million in earnings for the season, which began April 27 and ends December 15.
Up against the four-year-olds and upward in the Dominion over a mile and eighth, Husbands sent the four-year-old chestnut gelding Paramount Prince – last year’s King’s Plate winner – to the front to lay down relaxed fractions of 24.83 seconds for the quarter and 49.47 for the half.
Ten-to-one Stanley House chased from second with favourite Tyson and 59-1 chance Collective Force, all keeping tabs on the lead.
The race quickened considerably at the three-eighth, Stanley House bearing down on Paramount Prince, with Tyson also challenging on the outside.
Once in the stretch, however, Paramount Prince produced an explosive turn of pace along the rails to storm to the finish in one minute, 39.45 seconds.
“He’s all speed, you know, and he has a very high cruising speed,” Husbands said afterward. “As long as you don’t play with him, he will give you everything.”
A seven-time Woodbine champion, Husbands was also dominant in the Marine over a mile and sixteenth, guiding the bay gelding Essex Serpent to a solid victory over the three-year-olds.
Thirteen-to-one bet Babbo showed early to take the race to the first bend before Husbands brought Essex Serpent from a stalking position to snatch the lead at the nine-sixteenth.
Native Land and Cameo Performance both rallied at the top of the stretch in pursuit of the leader, but the Husbands kept the gelding focused on winning, easing up at the wire.
“I knew I was on the best horse,” said Husbands. Both wins came for champion trainer Mark Casse.
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