(June 21, 2003)- Multiple stakes winner Patrol, trained in New York by Hall of Fame horseman Bill Mott, added the richest turf race in Texas to his résumé with a one-length triumph over Southern California invader Slew The Red in Saturday’s $250,000 Dallas Turf Cup in front of 8,678 fans at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Ridden by jockey Mike Luzzi and carrying 118 pounds, Patrol covered 1 1/8 miles on a firm turf course in 1:48.75, the fastest running of the race since Yaqthan recorded the stakes and course record of 1:45.54 in 1998.

Patrol, a 4-year-old Claiborne Farm homebred son of Lear Fan, paid $4.60 to win as the 6-5 favorite in the field of 10 older horses.

Patrol was anxious to run in the early stages of the race, but Luzzi managed to get the chestnut colt to relax down the backstretch and settled into third behind pacesetters Honorable Pic and Best Of K C. The leaders clocked fractions of :23.71 for a quarter mile, :47.16 for the half mile and 1:11.50 for three-quarters of a mile. Luzzi moved Patrol to the outside with a half-mile to run, ranged into contention on the turn for home and edged clear in the stretch to hold off a fast-closing Slew The Red.

“He was a little rank into the first turn, rightfully so, because he’s a speed horse,” New York-based Luzzi said. “It took me a while to get him turned off, but I did finally get him turned off. Turning home, I had to turn him on again, and he finished up nice for me.”

“I thought I had [Patrol] at the eighth pole, but the other horse had a little more gas left in the tank,” said Slew The Red’s rider Matt Garcia.

Patrol was sent postward as the favorite after a good third in the Grade I Woodford Reserve Handicap at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day. As a 3-year-old, the Kentucky-bred colt won a pair of listed turf stakes on the East Coast at Delaware Park and The Meadowlands.

The Dallas Turf Cup was Patrol’s third stakes win and sixth victory in 10 starts. His career earnings now total $398,920, thanks to the $150,000 winner’s share of the purse.

Runner-up Slew The Red, the 4-1 second wagering choice trained by Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale, finished one length ahead of locally-based Storybook Kid, a 15-1 outsider. Graded stakes winner Candid Glen was fourth.

Kris Havingfunnow, Best Of K C, Statement, Rare Cure, Maysville Slew and Honorable Pic completed the order of finish. Dynameaux was a late scratch.

The Dallas Turf Cup, broadcast live nationally on CBS Sports, was the third leg of a national Pick 3 which included the Grade I Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park (won by Sightseek) and the Grade II Ohio Derby from Thistledown (won by Wild and Wicked). The Pick 3 returned $29.40.