Lite Light (USA)
February 2, 1988 – May 5, 2007
Majestic Light (USA) x Printing Press (USA), by In Reality (USA)
Family 1-x
February 2, 1988 – May 5, 2007
Majestic Light (USA) x Printing Press (USA), by In Reality (USA)
Family 1-x
Lite Light was one of the best fillies of her crop at both 2 and 3, and her four Grade 1 wins at 3 would have been enough to win a championship in most years. Her form tailed off after her victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1), however, and she ended up well beaten in Eclipse Award voting for American champion 3-year-old filly by 1991 Canadian Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup Distaff (USA-G1) winner Dance Smartly. She became a good broodmare following her retirement although none of her foals were in her own class as racers.
Race record
26 starts, 8 wins, 4 seconds, 4 thirds, US$1,231,596
1990:
1991:
1993:
Assessments
Rated at 119 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 1990, 4 pounds below champion Meadow Star.
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1991, 3 pounds below champion Dance Smartly.
As an individual
A bright bay mare, Lite Light was good-sized and rangy. She showed great determination on the track. Although she raced on furosemide (Lasix) outside New York (which did not permit furosemide as a race-day medication at the time), she proved capable of winning in top company without it; nonetheless, she showed signs of having bled following her tremendous struggle with Meadow Star in the 1991 Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1).
As a producer
Lite Lite produced 12 named foals, of which seven started and six won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Lite Light was bred by Dr. and Mrs. R. Smiser West and Mr. and Mrs. Mack Miller. She was initially owned by Jack Finley, who purchased her for US$35,000 from the 1989 Keeneland September yearling sale. After she won the 1991 Las Virgenes Stakes, she was purchased privately by Oaktown Stable, the nom de course of rap music star M. C. Hammer. She was trained at first by Henry Moreno and later by Jerry Hollendorfer before finishing her racing career in the barn of D. Wayne Lukas. She was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks scores by Corey Nakatani. Following her retirement from racing, she was bought by Carl Icahn's Foxfield Farm for US$750,000 at the 1998 Keeneland November mixed sale. She passed through the ring at the same sale in 2004, in foal to Vindication, and was purchased by Edward P. Evans for US$675,000. She died at Evans' Spring Hill Farm in 2007 after rupturing a uterine artery while foaling; her Mineshaft filly (later named Mine Light) survived.
Pedigree notes
Lite Light is inbred 3x5 to the undefeated European champion Ribot, who led the combined English/Irish sire general list three times. She is a half sister to Redeemer (by Dixieland Band), whose multiple stakes-winning son American Boss (by Kingmambo) is a Group 2 winner by Japanese standards though not by international standards. Redeemer is the second dam of Grade 3 winner Private Chef. Lite Light is also a half sister to Music Note (by Java Gold), dam of multiple Puerto Rican stakes winner Reina Musical (by King Cugat), and to Rebalite (by More Than Ready), dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Race Day (by Tapit).
Lite Light and her siblings are out of the In Reality mare Printing Press, the only filly produced from Wealth of Nations (by Key to the Mint). Wealth of Nations, in turn, is out of 1964 Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes winner Admiring (by Hail to Reason), making her a half sister to 1993 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Glowing Tribute (by Graustark) and to Courting Days (by Bold Lad), dam of Irish Group 2 winner and useful sire Magesterial (by Northern Dancer).
A daughter of the notable race mare and producer Searching (by War Admiral), Admiring is a full sister to 1965 Futurity Stakes and Frizette Stakes winner Priceless Gem, dam of the great French race mare Allez France (by Sea-Bird), multiple Grade 1 producer Lady Winborne (by Secretariat), and four-time New Zealand champion sire Noble Bijou (by Vaguely Noble). Admiring is also a half sister to three-time American champion Affectionately (by Swaps), dam of 1970 American Horse of the Year Personality (by Hail to Reason), and to Searching Around (by Round Table), dam of stakes winner Stashed (by Key to the Mint).
Books and media
Fun facts
Last updated: December 13, 2022
Race record
26 starts, 8 wins, 4 seconds, 4 thirds, US$1,231,596
1990:
- Won Oak Leaf Stakes (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Santa Anita
- Won Sorrento Stakes (USA-G3, 6.5FD, Del Mar)
- 2nd Hollywood Starlet Stakes (USA-G1, 8FD, Hollywood)
- 2nd Del Mar Debutante Stakes (USA-G2, 8FD, Del Mar)
- 3rd Landaluce Stakes (USA-G3, 6FD, Hollywood)
1991:
- Won Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
- Won Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Santa Anita Oaks (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Las Virgenes Stakes (USA-G1, 8FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Fantasy Stakes (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 2nd Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Chula Vista Handicap (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Del Mar)
1993:
- 3rd San Gorgonio Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Run for the Roses Stakes (USA-L, 8FD, Santa Anita)
Assessments
Rated at 119 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 1990, 4 pounds below champion Meadow Star.
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1991, 3 pounds below champion Dance Smartly.
As an individual
A bright bay mare, Lite Light was good-sized and rangy. She showed great determination on the track. Although she raced on furosemide (Lasix) outside New York (which did not permit furosemide as a race-day medication at the time), she proved capable of winning in top company without it; nonetheless, she showed signs of having bled following her tremendous struggle with Meadow Star in the 1991 Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1).
As a producer
Lite Lite produced 12 named foals, of which seven started and six won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Gaily Egret (1995, by Storm Cat) won two stakes races in Japan as a 6-year-old and was a Group 3 winner by Japanese standards but not international standards.
- Saddad (1999, by Gone West) won the 2001 Polypipe Flying Childers Stakes (ENG-G2). He was exported to Chile for stallion duty but has not been a success there, getting just three known stakes winners as of May 2020.
- Nite Light (2004, by Thunder Gulch) won the 2009 Turfway Park Fall Championship Stakes (USA-G3). He was sent to Puerto Rico for stud duty. but failed to sire any stakes winners from 43 named foals.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Lite Light was bred by Dr. and Mrs. R. Smiser West and Mr. and Mrs. Mack Miller. She was initially owned by Jack Finley, who purchased her for US$35,000 from the 1989 Keeneland September yearling sale. After she won the 1991 Las Virgenes Stakes, she was purchased privately by Oaktown Stable, the nom de course of rap music star M. C. Hammer. She was trained at first by Henry Moreno and later by Jerry Hollendorfer before finishing her racing career in the barn of D. Wayne Lukas. She was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks scores by Corey Nakatani. Following her retirement from racing, she was bought by Carl Icahn's Foxfield Farm for US$750,000 at the 1998 Keeneland November mixed sale. She passed through the ring at the same sale in 2004, in foal to Vindication, and was purchased by Edward P. Evans for US$675,000. She died at Evans' Spring Hill Farm in 2007 after rupturing a uterine artery while foaling; her Mineshaft filly (later named Mine Light) survived.
Pedigree notes
Lite Light is inbred 3x5 to the undefeated European champion Ribot, who led the combined English/Irish sire general list three times. She is a half sister to Redeemer (by Dixieland Band), whose multiple stakes-winning son American Boss (by Kingmambo) is a Group 2 winner by Japanese standards though not by international standards. Redeemer is the second dam of Grade 3 winner Private Chef. Lite Light is also a half sister to Music Note (by Java Gold), dam of multiple Puerto Rican stakes winner Reina Musical (by King Cugat), and to Rebalite (by More Than Ready), dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Race Day (by Tapit).
Lite Light and her siblings are out of the In Reality mare Printing Press, the only filly produced from Wealth of Nations (by Key to the Mint). Wealth of Nations, in turn, is out of 1964 Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes winner Admiring (by Hail to Reason), making her a half sister to 1993 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Glowing Tribute (by Graustark) and to Courting Days (by Bold Lad), dam of Irish Group 2 winner and useful sire Magesterial (by Northern Dancer).
A daughter of the notable race mare and producer Searching (by War Admiral), Admiring is a full sister to 1965 Futurity Stakes and Frizette Stakes winner Priceless Gem, dam of the great French race mare Allez France (by Sea-Bird), multiple Grade 1 producer Lady Winborne (by Secretariat), and four-time New Zealand champion sire Noble Bijou (by Vaguely Noble). Admiring is also a half sister to three-time American champion Affectionately (by Swaps), dam of 1970 American Horse of the Year Personality (by Hail to Reason), and to Searching Around (by Round Table), dam of stakes winner Stashed (by Key to the Mint).
Books and media
- Lite Light is profiled in Chapter 12 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
- Videos of Lite Light’s win in the 1991 Kentucky Oaks and her dramatic duel against Meadow Star in the 1991 Mother Goose Stakes can be accessed within Bob Ehalt's article "Meadow Star: Dazzling Champion Sparkled in the Mother of All Gooses," published August 14, 2017 at America's Best Racing (https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2017-meadow-star-dazzling-champion-sparkled-the-mother-all-gooses).
Fun facts
- Lite Light was the 10th filly to complete the Kentucky Oaks/Coaching Club American Oaks double, a feat previously accomplished by Princess Doreen (1924), Wistful (1949), How (1951), Real Delight (1952), Dark Mirage (1968), Davona Dale (1979), Bold 'n Determined (1980), Goodbye Halo (1988), and Open Mind (1989). Since 1991, the double has been accomplished by Ashado (2004) and Princess of Sylmar (2013).
- By winning the Coaching Club American Oaks, Lite Light enabled her owner, rap star MC Hammer, to collect a US$150,000 bet made with Carl Icahn, owner of second-place Meadow Star. Meadow Star, the American champion 2-year-old filly of 1990, had previously beaten Lite Light badly in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) and by about an inch in the 1991 Mother Goose Stakes. Hammer pledged to donate his winnings from the bet to the Help the Children Foundation.
Last updated: December 13, 2022