| Fantastic Light | |
|---|---|
 Japan Cup 2000. Fantastic Light (No. 10) finishes third toT M Opera O | |
| Sire | Rahy |
| Grandsire | Blushing Groom |
| Dam | Jood |
| Damsire | Nijinsky |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1996 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Bay |
| Breeder | Gainsborough Farm Inc. |
| Owner | Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Godolphin Stables |
| Trainer | Michael Stoute Saeed bin Suroor |
| Record | 25: 12-5-3 |
| Earnings | $8,486,957[1] |
| Major wins | |
| Sandown Classic Trial (1999) Great Voltigeur Stakes (1999) Arc Trial (1999) Dubai Sheema Classic (2000) Man o' War Stakes (2000) Hong Kong Cup (2000) Tattersalls Gold Cup (2001) Prince of Wales's Stakes (2001) Irish Champion Stakes (2001) Breeders' Cup Turf (2001) | |
| Awards | |
| United States Champion Male Turf Horse (2001) European Champion Older Horse (2001) European Horse of the Year (2001) Emirates World Series Racing Champion (2000, 2001) Timeform rating: 134 | |
| Last updated on August 20, 2024 | |
Fantastic Light (foaled February 13, 1996) is a retiredThoroughbredracehorse and pensionedsire. He was foaled in the United States but was trained in England andDubai during his racing career, which ran from August 1998 to his retirement following theBreeders' Cup Turf in October 2001. He raced in seven countries, winningGroup One/Grade I races in five of them and was a dual winner of theEmirates World Series Racing Championship. He was namedUnited States Champion Male Turf Horse,European Horse of the Year andEuropean Champion Older Horse in 2001. He was also well known for his two races against the2001 Epsom Derby winnerGalileo. In August 2012 it was announced that he had been pensioned from stallion duty while in Japan and would return to Dalham Hall in England to live out his days as a pensioner.
In his early racing career, when trained byMichael Stoute, he won theSandown Classic Trial, theGreat Voltigeur Stakes, theArc Trial and theDubai Sheema Classic. In 2000 after his transfer toGodolphin he won theMan o' War Stakes and theHong Kong Cup. In his championship season in 2001 Fantastic Light won four of his six races; theTattersalls Gold Cup, thePrince of Wales's Stakes, theIrish Champion Stakes and theBreeders' Cup Turf.
Fantastic Light, a bay horse with an irregular whiteblaze and three white feet, was bred inKentucky byMaktoum Al Maktoum's Gainsborough Stud.[2]
His sire,Rahy (1985–2011), sired the winners of over three hundred races, including more than thirty atGroup One/Grade I level. Apart from Fantastic Light, his best progeny have includedNoverre,Serena's Song andHawksley Hill.[3] Fantastic Light'sdam,Jood, a daughter ofNijinsky, failed to win a race, but came from a good family, being closely related toSwain.[4]
Until early 2000, Fantastic Light raced in the colours of Maktoum Al Maktoum and was trained byMichael Stoute atNewmarket, Suffolk. His ownership was then transferred toGodolphin Racing, and he was trained from that point on bySaeed bin Suroor.[5]
Fantastic Light never ran in amaiden race, instead making his debut against more experienced colts in a minor stakes race atSandown in August 1998. He started slowly and showed his inexperience ("ran green") before taking the lead in the closing stages and winning by one and three quarterlengths fromSicnee, with the futureDiadem Stakes winner,Sampower Star in third.[6] He followed up in a similar event at the same course three weeks later, beatingAesops by three quarters of a length after leading close to the finish.[7] This performance attracted some attention, with one commentator identifying him as "a promising young stayer".[8] On his last start of the year he was moved up toListed class, and finished last of the three starters in the Stardom Stakes atGoodwood.[9]
Fantastic Light began his three-year-old season with his firstGroup race win in theSandown Classic Trial. Ridden by Daryll Holland, he took the lead afurlong out and was eased in the closing stages to win by a short head.[10] Speculation that he might develop into aDerby contender[11] ended in his next race, when he was stepped up to one and a half miles for the first time and finished fourth of the five runners in theLingfield Derby Trial.[12]
Fantastic Light was brought back to a mile and a quarter, and produced placed efforts on his next two starts. AtRoyal Ascot in June, he was beaten a head byLear Spear in thePrince of Wales's Stakes (then a Group Two race), and at Sandown three weeks later he finished third, beaten a neck and half a length behindCompton Admiral andXaar in the Group OneEclipse Stakes. In August Fantastic Light recorded his first win at Group Two level as he led three furlongs out and ran on to win a strongly contestedGreat Voltigeur Stakes fromBienamado (Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes,San Juan Capistrano Handicap,Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap) and the futureSt Leger winnerMutafaweq.[13] A month later, he won a third important race by holding off the1998 Epsom Derby winnerHigh-Rise by three quarters of a length in the ListedArc Trial atNewbury.[14]
On his final start of the season, Fantastic Light was moved up to the highest level for thePrix de l'Arc de Triomphe and finished a remote eleventh of the thirteen runners behindMontjeu.[15]
Fantastic Light's first run of 2000 was also his last for theStoute stable. He was sent to Dubai for theSheema Classic, in which he faced a field including runners from Britain, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Argentina. Ridden byKieren Fallon, he took the lead in the straight ("far too soon" according to his jockey) and went clear to beat the German horseCaitano by three lengths, with High-Rise third.[16] In winning, Fantastic Light broke theNad Al Sheba track record for one and a half miles by more than a second.[17] Shortly after the race it was announced that Fantastic Light would not return to Michael Stoute, but would be transferred toSheikh Mohammed'sGodolphin Racing team and be trained bySaeed bin Suroor.[5]
Fantastic Light was then returned to England for a summer campaign. In theCoronation Cup atEpsom in June he finished second toDaliapour and then came fifth of the eight runners behindGiant's Causeway in the Eclipse Stakes. He was then sent toAscot for theKing George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where he finished second, reversing the Epsom form with Daliapour, but having no chance[18] against the favouriteMontjeu.[19]
In Autumn, Godolphin campaigned Fantastic Light in the United States. AtBelmont Park in September he started odds-on favourite and won theMan o' War Stakes "comfortably", to record his first Grade I victory.[20] In this race he was ridden byJerry Bailey, who claimed that he had always had the other runners "at his mercy"[21] despite having to come round the outside of the field. In all his remaining ten starts Fantastic Light was ridden byFrankie Dettori. He disappointed in a return to Belmont for theTurf Classic, finishing fourth toJohn's Call, a horse he had beaten in the Man o' War. He then finished to fifthKalanisi in theBreeders' Cup Turf atChurchill Downs, although in this case he had a legitimate excuse, having been blocked twice when Dettori attempted to find space for a challenge.[22]
For his last two starts of the year, Fantastic Light was sent to East Asia. In November, in theJapan Cup he stayed on strongly in the closing stages to finish a close third, beaten a neck and a nose byT M Opera O andMeisho Doto. Dettori reportedly felt that the slow pace was the reason for his defeat.[23] Despite three successive defeats, Fantastic Light still managed to end the season with a major victory. In December he was sent toSha Tin for theHong Kong Cup and justified favouritism by leading in the straight and staying on strongly to beatGreek Dance andJim and Tonic.[24] The win earned Fantastic Light top place in the Emirates World Series, a competition in which points were awarded for performances in a number of international races.[25]
In March he attempted to win a second Sheema Classic and almost succeeded, taking the lead a furlong out, but being caught on the line and beaten a nose by the Japanese outsiderStay Gold.[26] Despite the defeat, his connections announced that they were "delighted" with the performance.[27] As in 2000, Fantastic Light spent the middle of the season racing in Europe. At the end of May he was sent to Ireland where he won theTattersalls Gold Cup, taking the lead a furlong from the finish and beatingGolden Snake by a neck withKalanisi third.[28] After the race, Godolphin's racing manager, Simon Crisford, said that Fantastic Light would be aimed at the top middle-distance races in Europe, calling him "very special... a fantastic horse".[29]
Despite this result, Kalanisi was made favourite when the horses met again in thePrince of Wales's Stakes (by this time a Group One race) atRoyal Ascot, a contest that was expected to be one of the best of the meeting.[30] Fantastic Light raced behind the leaders before being moved up by Dettori to take the lead in the straight. He soon went clear with whatThe Daily Telegraph described as a "ruthless display of speed",[31] and although Kalanisi attempted to challenge, Fantastic Light stayed on to win "comfortably" by two and a half lengths.[32] After the race,Sheikh Mohammed talked confidently about a meeting with the unbeatenDerby winnerGalileo.[31]
Fantastic Light and Galileo did meet at Ascot in theKing George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, for which theAidan O'Brien-trained three-year-old was sent off the 1/2 favourite ahead of Fantastic Light at 7/2. The race was the subject of considerable advance publicity, and was portrayed as a clash between the two most powerful forces in European racing; Godolphin, represented by Fantastic Light, andBallydoyle/Coolmore represented by Galileo.[33] As in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, Dettori settled Fantastic Light in the early stages before moving him out to challenge in the straight. Galileo had already taken the lead but Fantastic Light moved up and went level a furlong out. The two horses raced side by side for several strides, but Galileo then pulled ahead to win by two lengths.[34]
The second meeting between Fantastic Light and Galileo was scheduled for the Irish Champion Stakes atLeopardstown in September and was highly anticipated.[35] This time Dettori rode Fantastic Light more positively as part of an agreed Godolphin plan,[36] sending him past theBallydoyle pacemaker to take the lead two furlongs out. Michael Kinane immediately brought Galileo to challenge and the two horses raced alongside each other all the way to the line. Galileo appeared to gain a slight advantage, but Fantastic Light, stayed on strongly under pressure to regain the lead and win by a head in a "thrilling"[37] contest.[38] The British Horseracing Authority described the event as "one of the greatest races witnessed throughout the current decade",[39] whilst readers of theRacing Post placed it seventh (the third highest for a flat race) in their list of the 100 Greatest Races.[40][41]
For Fantastic Light's final start, he was sent back to America for a second attempt at theBreeders' Cup, held in October 2001 atBelmont Park. It was expected that he would run against Galileo again[42] in theClassic, while Godolphin'sPrix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner,Sakhee was aimed for theBreeders' Cup Turf. Shortly before the race, however, the two Godolphin horses switched targets, the rationale apparently being that Sakhee would be better suited by the dirt surface.[43] In theTurf, Dettori placed Fantastic Light just behind the pace as the race was led first byWith Anticipation and then byTimboroa. Making his challenge in the straight, Fantastic Light took the lead just over a furlong out and held off the strong late challenge of theSt Leger winnerMilan to win by three quarters of a length, with the rest of the runners more than five lengths further back.[44] The time of 2:24.36 was a new course record.[45] Summarising Fantastic Light's career, Crisford called him "the ultimate modern-day racehorse."[46]
A projected run in the Japan Cup did not materialise[47] and his retirement was announced shortly afterwards. He had already amassed sufficient points to secure a second Emirates World Series.[48][49]
From the mid-1990s the International Classification Committee (representing Europe) and the North American Rating Committee drew up an annual International Classification which included all horses who raced in Europe, North America and Japan. These ratings did not include Southern Hemisphere horses and were not therefore, "World" rankings.[51]
In the 2000 International Classification, Fantastic Light was assessed at 124, placing him fourteenth in the ratings (eighth in Europe), ten pounds belowDubai Millennium.[51] In the 2001 International Classification Fantastic Light was assessed at 129 (equal with Galileo ), making him the third highest rated horse behindSakhee andPoint Given.[52]
Fantastic Light was assessed at 134 byTimeform.[53] A rating in excess of 130 is given to "the very best horses".[54]
In 2001 he was namedEuropean Champion Older Horse andEuropean Horse of the Year at theCartier Racing Awards.[55]
In February 2002 Fantastic Light was voted the Eclipse Award forAmerican Champion Male Turf Horse in theEclipse Awards,[2] beatingVal Royal and With Anticipation in the voting.[56]
Retired at the end of the 2001 racing season, Fantastic Light stood for theDarley Studstud atDalham Hall[5] inNewmarket, England, before being moved to their Japanese base inHokkaido for the 2007 season.[57] He has also been shuttled to stand in Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.[58] During five seasons at stud in Australia he was the sire of 427 live foals.[59]
He has sired the winners of more than three hundred races includingScintillo, winner of theWinter Derby, theGran Criterium and theGrand Prix de Chantilly (Group 2).[60] His only other Group 1 winner was Mission Critical who won theNew Zealand International Stakes in 2008.[61]
Fantastic Light was pensioned from stud duties in August 2012.[62]
| Sire Rahy (USA) 1985 | Blushing Groom 1974 | Red God | Nasrullah* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Run | |||
| Runaway Bride | Wild Risk | ||
| Aimee | |||
| Glorious Song 1976 | Halo | Hail To Reason* | |
| Cosmah | |||
| Ballade | Herbager | ||
| Miss Swapsco | |||
| Dam Jood (USA) 1989 | Nijinsky 1967 | Northern Dancer | Nearctic* |
| Natalma | |||
| Flaming Page | Bull Page | ||
| Flaring Top | |||
| Kamar 1976 | Key To The Mint | Graustark | |
| Key Bridge | |||
| Square Angel | Quadrangle | ||
| Nangela* (Family: 14-c)[64] |