US celebrations once more in Coolmore Classic
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Lighthouse (5 m Mizzen Mast – More Hoping by North Light) became the second US import in three years to claim the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) for the fillies and mares when the gallant five-year-old galloped clear of her rivals in yesterday’s feature at Rosehill.
Lighthouse, owned by prominent US ownership outfit LNJ Foxwoods, follows 2020 winner Con Te Partiro (Scat Daddy) as an American-bred winner of the Group 1, as the five-year-old finished a length and three-quarters clear of Bennelong Bloodstock homebred Mirra Vision (Lonhro), who just finished ahead of Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Hinged (Worthy Cause).
The result also delivered another dent to the form of highly-touted filly and $3.10 race favourite Espiona (Extreme Choice), who toiled on the Heavy 8 surface to finish a well-beaten eighth.
Lighthouse will now bid to emulate her American counterpart Con Te Partiro in the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick on April 9, day two of the Championships, a race the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Con Te Partiro won two years ago before her sale for US$1.6 million back in the States at the 2020 Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale.
“You look at all her runs, she runs on top of the ground, she runs last week-this week, second in the Orr (Stakes). She is just an honest, genuine horse. She has been a bit of a dream really,” Maher said in the aftermath of the race.
“She probably goes (to the Queen Of The Turf Stakes). She carried a fair bit of weight today, so the weight-for-age conditions probably suit her.
“She has backed up so she will have an easy couple of weeks and get ready for that.”
Lighthouse is the first horse the US-based Roth family have raced in Australia under their LNJ Foxwoods banner, after the mare’s import ahead of a spring 2021 campaign, and in eight starts since she has earned five wins and three seconds, including two at Group 1 level.
Beyond next month’s Queen Of The Turf Stakes, Maher said the track future of Lighthouse was unclear, but her success may have paved the way for more horses in the LNJ Foxwoods silks to try their hand in Australia.
The operation has among their US successes the recently Grade 1-placed Subconscious (Tapit) while previous high-class horses to race in their silks include Grade 1-winning fillies Covfefe (Into Mischief), Constellation (Bellamy Road) and Nickname (Scat Daddy).
“I’m not sure what they’re (LNJ Foxwoods) going to do, whether she goes to stud at the end of this season. They’ve got a lot of horses so I would say they’d be pretty keen to send a few more over,” Maher said.
“They race a lot of horses over (in the US), the Foxwoods, and they thought they would send her out as a tester.
“She was stakes-placed and lowly rated (in the US) and she just hit the ground running. You can see her form, she hasn’t done much wrong.”
Lighthouse becomes the tenth elite-level winner for her Juddmonte stallion Mizzen Mast (Cozzene), a Group 3 winner in France as a three-year-old before earning Grade 1 success on the dirt in the US.
Yesterday’s Group 1 success for Lighthouse comes almost five years after the stallion’s last top-flight winner, the Keeneland Grade 1-winning mare Sailor’s Valentine, while Mizzen Mast has been represented by two Breeders’ Cup winners in Mizdirection and Flotilla.
In Australia, Mizzen Mast has been represented by five winners from seven runners, including dual Listed winner Multilateral.
Lighthouse is the third foal out of North Light (Danehill) mare More Hoping, and derives from fourth dam Ratings (Caveat), a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 runner-up, who is the producer of two stakes winners.