Racehorse Pat’s Delight is proving just that to his owners and breeders, Pat and Margaret Kubala, of Gore.
The pacer won the $150,000 Emerald Harness Jewels race for 3yr-old colts and geldings at the Cambridge raceway on June 2.
Trained by Cran Dalgety, of Christchurch, Pat’s Delight was driven by Dexter Dunn.
Only the top 12 money-earning horses of the racing year were eligible to enter the various Harness Jewels races, which had group one status.
‘It’s quite hard to win group one races – we got a great thrill from winning one,” Mr Kubala said. “The whole family was very excited,” Mrs Kubala said.
Going into the race, Mr Kubala had a feeling Pat’s Delight could win.
“I was pretty confident that the horse would probably win; only bad luck would stop him.”
The signs were promising even before the race when the horse drew the No2 starting position.
“Having a good draw is a huge help.”
For much of the race, Dunn was actually holding the horse back, Mr Kubala said. Dunn did a “great job” of driving the horse.
“He got off the rail at the right time and won very well.
“They ran a very good time – he could have gone a lot faster.”
Previously, Mr Kubala trained horses himself but now he is more interested in breeding harness racers.
The couple bought Pat’s Delight’s dam Righteous Franco when she was a 5yr-old and she had been in foal six times since.
Righteous Franco had good bloodlines, being related to the late Jack Smolenski’s breed.
“I struck gold when I bought that mare.”
However, just because a horse had good breeding was no guarantee it would perform.
Pat’s Delight was sired by Bettor’s Delight, whose other progeny were also performing well.
Mr Kubala revealed that about a month ago had received an offer for Pat’s Delight.
“A big six-figure offer.”
However, the couple had no plans to sell Pat’s Delight at this stage.
“He’s a horse that could go places in the racing side of things.”
