ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Patches O’Houlihan has a long way to go to match the accomplishments of another Robert Tiller trainee, Pink Lloyd, but he’s already shown more at this stage of his career than that Canadian champion sprinter, who didn’t debut until age 4. Patches O’Houlihan meets stakes winner Poulin in O T in Saturday’s Lake Huron at Woodbine, one of two $100,000 Ontario-sired stakes for 3-year-olds on the card, along with the Georgian Bay for fillies. Both are five-furlong inner turf sprints that make up the opening leg of the Ontario Sire Heritage Series. A homebred owned by Frank DiGiulio Jr., Patches O’Houlihan is unbeaten in three Tapeta starts, including back-to-back Ontario-sired allowance scores going 5 1/2 furlongs this spring. He got a 93 Beyer Speed Figure in the first of those races, which is the second-highest Beyer earned by a 3-year-old at Woodbine this year. The lone blemish on Patches O’Houlihan’s record was a well-beaten sixth in the restricted Bull Page Stakes over about seven furlongs on the main turf in his final 2-year-old outing. “He’s been a pleasant surprise, because he’s not a big work horse,” Tiller said. “We knew he was much better this spring. He got injured in his last start last year and was operated on right after the race. It may well be that he doesn’t like turf, but he had excuses that day.” :: Get ready for summer racing with a DRF Formulator Quarterly PP plan Tiller said he isn’t thrilled with cutting Patches O’Houlihan back in distance Saturday, but he doesn’t want to pass up an Ontario-sired spot for the son of Reload. “I think he’s more of a six- to seven-furlong horse,” Tiller explained. “Five-eighths worries me. I’m not a fan of the inside turf course. I can’t get lucky on it. I think Patches is fast, but he’s not that fast. A fast horse just might be gone. That’s my worry.” Poulin in O T, a three-time stakes winner trained by Steve Owens, was the runner-up in the 2022 Sovereign Award voting for Canadian champion male 2-year-old. In his June 11 season opener, the seven-furlong Queenston Stakes, Poulin in O T dueled for the lead before weakening to third, finishing just a head behind Paramount Prince. Victorious Kaukokaipuu returned to finish second in the Grade 3 Marine and is on the road to the $1 million King’s Plate. Silent Reserve is another speedy contender in the five-horse Lake Huron. He trounced open maiden special company by six lengths in a five-furlong inner turf dash on June 2, receiving an 82 Beyer in the process. ◗ Foolish Games puts her unbeaten record on the line against 10 others in the Georgian Bay. Trained by Michelle Love, Foolish Games led throughout en route to a 4 1/2-length score in her April 29 debut. Three weeks later in another Tapeta sprint, she gutted out a victory over Ontario-sired opponents in front-running style. Foolish Games is a daughter of the popular Reload, who has sired 9 percent winners in turf sprints. Post time for the expanded 11-race card is 1:10 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.