Mike de Kock won his second Gr3 Abu Dhabi Championship over 2200m on Saturday when Light The Lights, ridden by Adrie de Vries, stayed on well to beat Janszoon in a well-contested feature.
Flashback – Light The Lights wins the Mubadala Global Trophy (photo: HKJC/Andrew Watkins)
This was a third success in the UAE for Light The Lights, a South African-bred by Western Winter and Mike said: “He was rated to win at 111, the nearest to him was 108, so he had a big chance racing in his class.
“Light The Lights has been a soldier to the stable and to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum. He’s a consistent performer who has won at the Dubai Carnival though he battles at Carnival level, at level weights. The Abu Dhabi race was below Carnival level and he duly obliged.
“Adrie De Vries rode a super race, he is a very good rider and he did a lot of work for us last year so I am happy to have rewarded him with a feature winner.”
The son of triple champion sire Western Winter won three times in South Africa, including the Gr2 Peninsula Handicap with Light The Lights also finishing fourth in the 2016 G1 J&B Met.
Light The Lights wins 2016 Gr2 Peninsula Handicap
Bred by Anne and Bruce Nicholas of Hallmark Thoroughbreds, Light The Lights was a R450 000 buy from the 2013 National Yearling Sale.
Light The Lights is by Western Winter out of brilliant broodmare First Arrival – the dam of UK export and Equus award winners In The Fast Lane and Rock The Country, as well as Let’s Rock ‘n Roll and Beat Patrol. This is the family of Trademark and Morisco.
A Silvano half-sister to Light The Lights will come up on next month’s 2018 National Yearling Sale.
