Two years after Con Te Partiro (USA) won the race for the United States, it was time to wave the flag again with the ultra-consistent Lighthouse (USA) crowning her southern hemisphere sojourn in Saturday’s $600,000 Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill.
Revelling in the conditions, the grey daughter of Mizzen Mast hit the line strongly to defeat the Lonhro mare Mirra Vision by two lengths with the Worthy Cause mare Hinged a nose back in third.
Runner-up at her last two starts in the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes and Group 1 Canterbury Stakes, Lighthouse (USA) has been a model of consistency since japing the Maher/Eustice stable.
“They (Foxwoods) race a lot of horses over there, and they thought they would send her out as a tester,” Maher said.
“She was stakes placed and lowly rated and she just hit the ground running. You can see her form, she hasn’t done much wrong.
“The first time we took her to the races she was very excited, she took a bit of calming down. The more runs she has had, the better she has gone. She has always been pretty consistent. She has been a bit of a dream really.
“She probably goes to the other Coolmore (Legacy, now 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.
“I’m not sure what they’re 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.”
Lighthouse is the best of two winners from four to race out of the North Light mare More Hoping.
The family has it roots in New Zealand with the export of the 1972 Wellington Oaks winner Port Royal (Ribolight), the sixth dam of Lighthouse (USA).
Lighthouse (USA) becomes the 10th Group/Grade 1 winner for Juddmonte Farm’s pensioned Caro stallion Mizzen Mast.
