Patches O'Houlihan

Patches O’Houlihan, a bay gelding by Reload, is named after a character played by actor Rip Torn in the 2004 movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”

He won his career debut by 4 ½ lengths in September 2022 at Woodbine before an unplaced finish in the Bull Page Stakes when switching from the synthetic main track to the turf.

Patches O’Houlihan emerged in 2023 as an elite sprinter in Canada. He opened the year with back-to-back open-length victories on the main track before a 1 ¼-length victory July 8 in the Lake Huron Stakes at five-eighths of a mile on the grass.

Shifted back to Woodbine's all-weather main track by trainer Robert Tiller, Patches O’Houlihan won the Lake Superior Stakes by 8 ½ length while leading from start to finish in the three-quarter-mile sprint July 30. He next made his graded stakes debut in the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes Aug. 20 and again led from beginning to end in a 1 1/4 -length win.

Patches O'Houlihan kept his winning ways going once again in his next start in the Grade 3 $150,000 Vigil Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 16 for his seventh win in eight career starts. While the result was the same, Patches O'Houlihan had to work for it much more than usual in the Vigil, outdueling another pace setter in the race and then hitting the wire at just the right time to hold off the oncoming stalker and closer to win by a nose and a head from the second and third horses.

In his final start of 2023, Patches O’Houlihan saw his six-race winning streak come to a close as he finished fifth in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes on Nov. 18. 

Patches O'Houlihan then took a long break from racing but came back at age 4 as good as ever, taking the listed Pink Lloyd Stakes July 28, 2024, at Woodbine by six lengths while ridden for the first time by jockey Sofia Vives. Following that successful comeback, Robert Tiller elevated Patches O’Houlihan back to the graded stakes level, and with Vives aboard again, the gelding picked up his third Grade 3 win and second consecutive Bold Venture Stakes Aug. 23 with a game neck victory over Playmea Tune.

Patches O'Houlihan won again in his next start, this time taking the Grade 2 $250,000 Nearctic Stakes going six furlongs on the turf at Woodbine on Oct. 5, topping a nine-horse field by 1 1/2 lengths as the 2.15-1 favorite in a 10-horse field.

Patches O’Houlihan was produced by the winning Silent Name mare Maythefourthbwithu.