Arlington Park: Pataky Kid impressive in Arlington-Washington Futurity win

Four-Footed Fotos

Pataky Kid, with Garrett Gomez riding, pulls away to win the Arlington-Washington Futurity.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Race by race, Pataky Kid gets better and better. His latest step forward netted the Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington-Washington Futurity on Saturday, and if the trend continues, Pataky Kid could be 2-year-old of note this fall.

Trainer Tom Proctor will give Pataky Kid a chance around two turns, probably in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October, but on Saturday at Arlington, Proctor was savoring his win in Futurity, a race with a long, storied history.

"I think he's a pretty good colt," said Proctor, who trains Pataky Kid for the Swifty Farms of Don and Dana Myers, "and this is a race I've always wanted to win. This used to be one of the biggest races in the country. Buckpasser won it."

Pataky Kid, an Oklahoma-bred by Rockport Harbor, broke slowly and raced wide in his six-furlong debut on dirt at Churchill, checking in third in a fast maiden race. Second time, he ran down an apparently talented colt named Tulira Castle in a seven-furlong Polytrack maiden at Arlington, and Saturday's one-mile distance seemed only to help Pataky Kid.

With Garrett Gomez in from California to ride, Pataky Kid took up a good position racing inside and just behind favored pacesetter Muppet Man, who set fractions of 23.50 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.85 for the first half. Gomez clung to the fence until turning for home, when he guided Pataky Kid two paths off the rail through a hole that opened when Stormin Monarcho lost touch with Muppet Man. Pataky Kid came willingly alongside Muppet Man by the eighth pole, the only anxious moment coming when he shied out from second left-handed pop delivered by Gomez's crop.

"The second time I got into him, he didn't like it that much, and he let me know it," said Gomez.

Pataky Kid, who paid $6.80 as the second choice, wound up three lengths clear at the finish, stopping the timer in 1:37.58. Muppet Man finished one length in front of Stormin Monarcho, with Ultimo Trago running late on the outside for fourth.