Gregory Park is synonymous with the iconic Caymanas Park racetrack – the home of horse racing in Jamaica.

But just over the adjacent wall is an unknown football field – the home of Racing United Football Club and the heart of coach Anthony Patrick.

Patrick is one of the foremost names in local football coaching having surged to prominence after leading Bridgeport High to Manning Cup titles in 2001 and 2006.

He also won the Walker Cup with Bridgeport High in 2001 and twice with St Catherine High in 2019 and 2021.

Now Patrick has a new project in Racing United, a team he has taken under his wings since 2017, taking them from obscurity in St Catherine to the highest league in the country – the Wray and Nephew Jamaican Premier League in seven years.

“I have been here since 2017 from Tier 2 competition, and we keep moving up the ladder and we are in the top-flight now with the majority of the youngsters here from 2017 started playing at age 15, 16 and 17 year-old and still here,” he told Our Today.

“Just one move on to Mount Pleasant in our top striker Raheem Edwards. We have brought in about five or six outsiders for the premier league out of a squad of 30,” he noted.

Patrick, who led Waterhouse FC to the CFU championship in 2014, was welcomed into the premier league by his former club which defeated Racing United 1-0 on the opening day.

But he did not have to wait long to taste the sweet victory in top-flight football as Racing defeated Dunbeholden FC 1-0 on Sunday courtesy of a Mikhale Williams goal.

Williams, like Patrick, will go down in the annals of Racing United folklore when tales are told to the younger generations.

“We are pretty happy and pretty confident playing in the premier league,” said Patrick.

“We just have to take it game by game and take it in stride and look at every team that we are going to play and sit and analyse with the staff,” he noted.

“We are looking forward to playing in this competition, not just for this season, but next season as well. So, it’s one game at a time and try and keep ourselves in the league. That’s the aim,” Patrick reiterated.

“This is three rounds of football and we are trying to position ourselves in the first 13 games out of the 39. We got three points out of six in the first two games, so we still have 11 games in this first round,” he added.

“We set ourselves a target point that we want to achieve after 13 games, so that’s what we doing and build on every game that we play,” said Patrick.

Racing United are currently seventh in the 14-team league after two games and will travel to the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex to face the might of Arnett Gardens on September 29.