‘Patch’ makes statement in the big smoke

Former Southland harness racing pacer The Big Lebowski (Mach Three) created a big impression when he won at Alexandra Park on Friday night. 

At his first start on the track ‘Patch’ (stable name) demolished a small field. He won by eleven lengths, running the 2200 metres from the mobile in 2-38.4 (mile rate 1-55.8) and pacing his last 800 metres in 56.8.

“It suits if they go hard all the way. He’s such a good staying type,” said breeder and former trainer Robin Swain who initially shared in the ownership of the horse with Merv and Meg Butterworth.

The win also impressed driver Blair Orange.

“He was lovely and relaxed out there. He gave me a good feeling and it was a great time,” he said.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI REPLAY

Now trained by Ray Green, Swain says the giant pacer has markedly improved in the last month and his form shows that.

“When Nathan (Williamson) drove him at Wyndham he said he just knocked off and had a bit more up his sleeve.”

His last win in the south was on Diamonds Day at Ascot Park where he beat a tidy field, winning by one and three quarter lengths.

“Merv rang Blair to see whether he would drive him at Ascot Park for that start, but he was committed to Miki Knows (Always B Miki) who he thought was quite a good horse. It’s funny how it’s worked out.”

The Big Lebowski was bred by Swain and is out of Safely Kept mare Cool Maiden who is part of the late Colin Baynes breeding legacy. 

“She went to a couple of workouts and won one pacing. She was quite a big mare, and she broke down. Colin went to Safely Kept because at the time La Coocaracha was racing well, and she was out of a Safely Kept mare.”

Before Colin passed away he offered Swain the pick of three mares and Swain chose Cool Maiden. He initially didn’t breed from her, allowing Colin’s son Kenny and daughter-in-law Penny the opportunity to breed from her first.

“They chose to go to trotting stallions.”

Since 2007 Cool Maiden’s breeding programme has been a mixture of trotting and pacing stallions and she’s left a number of dual gaited horses.

Her first foal Cool Cobber (Pegasus Spur) had ten races as a pacer without winning. However when he was switched to trotting he won nine.

“He was a bit of a stroppy bugger. We had a guy break him in and (we) went down to watch him. He misbehaved and was halfway over the fence with the cart on the other side. We thought we’d put the hopples on and pace him so we could manage him, but he did pace free legged a bit.”

Cool Maiden’s second and most successful foal to date, John Of Arc, (Courage Under Fire) had three starts for Baynes and Swain for three seconds before heading to Australia where he won nineteen races and ran a second in the 2017 WA Cup, won by Chicago Blues (Bettor’s Delight).

“Courage Under Fire was only a wee guy and because Cool Maiden and Cool Cobber were big horses and Cool Maiden was dual gaited, we decided to go to Courage Under Fire and try and get a smaller horse. John Of Arc didn’t end up being small but he was fine boned. 

John Of Arc won over three hundred thousand dollars in Australia and Swain said he would have won more had he not had soundness problems.

The Big Lebowski was the first foal Swain bred from Cool Maiden and was named after the 1998 Crime Comedy starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

“I think the kids named him. I made a point of watching the movie. It was a bit different, but it wasn’t a bad movie.”

From an early stage The Big Lebowski was given the stable name ‘Patch’.

“He’s got a black birthmark over his rump about half the size of your hand.”

Swain says the gelding was always going to take time to organise because of his size.

“He was a stroppy bugger early on. He was a nice horse to deal with apart from when he was in the cart when he had a mind of his own, which was the Mach Three in him. But he was a great pacer. He was a big rangy guy, so we just gave him time. I just played around with him for the first couple of years.”

He had five workouts before he qualified as a four year old at Winton in June 2021.

“A year after racing him with Merv and Meg they bought me out. It was just a matter of getting him sorted down here. One thing about Merv is that he’s very patient.”

In his first season of racing The Big Lebowski was restricted to just nine starts for a handful of minor placings. As a five year old Swain gave him twelve starts and he won three and was placed twice.

Last Friday night’s start at Alexandra Park was only his twenty nineth and his record is now 29-6-4- 4 and $52,875.

The next foal out of Cool Maiden was The Dark Knight (Washington VC). The ten start maiden was also sold to the Butterworths and Swain has a Raging Bull filly out of the mare which is her last foal.

“I haven’t broken her in yet but she’s a nice type. She’s more like John Of Arc which is good.”

Cool Maiden was put down earlier this year.

“She didn’t hold to Carlton. She’s very hard to get in foal and because she’s twenty we finished up putting her down.”

Swain said he’ll keep the Raging Bull filly and we’ll await the next chapter of this dual gaited family to unfold.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink