Grade 2 winner and millionaire Pat On the Back has been retired and will enter stud next year at Godstone Farm, near Littlestown, Pa., only a couple miles from the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line.
A 6-year-old son of Congrats, Pat On the back raced from 2 to 6 and won or placed in 18 black-type stakes throughout New York for owners Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, and Nehoc Stables. He compiled a 9-4-6 record out of 30 starts and banked $1,144,545.
Pat On the Back was precocious at 2, getting his first win in his second start and capturing his first black-type stakes in his third start. His best performance came in last year's one-mile Kelso Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park that he won by half a length over multiple graded stakes winner Prince Lucky in a final time of 1:33.97. His other victories came in seven black-type stakes including consecutive wins in the 2019 Affirmed Success Stakes and Commentator Stakes.
"He kept giving his best all the time," said Lerner. "I don't believe I've had another horse run as good as he did for as long as he did."
A "Share the Upside" program with a twist will be available for breeders who support Pat On the Back's first years at stud. Those who register for the program and pay the full $3,500 stud fee for the first two years will not only earn a lifetime breeding right, they also will be eligible to share in the proceeds if the stallion should later get sold, according to Richard Brooks, who is managing Pat On the Back.
"He is a good-looking horse out of a family of sires that has already settled in on the farm," said Brooks. "I have also been in contact with a good group of breeders who breed to race and can get Pat On the Back off to a fast start."
Pat On the Back is out of the Awesome Again daughter Accomplished, making him a half brother to stakes winner and stakes producer Sarah Accomplished (Performing Magic). The stallion's second dam, I'm in Celebration, is a multiple stakes producer and half sister to multiple Brazilian group 1 winner Little Baby Bear (Broad Brush), Flamingo Stakes (G3) winner First American (Quiet American), and Indiana Derby winner Dubai Dust (Broad Brush). Both First American and Dubai Dust became successful sires in Brazil. First American has sired 50 black-type winners, including 29 graded/group stakes winners and five champions. Dubai Dust sired 28 black-type winners, including 14 group winners and two champions.
