Shining Light blinds the competition with blistering run
Four-year-old chestnut gelding Shining Light is building his reputation as a good sprinter when he scored a fighting win over younger rivals in a Restricted Stakes event over 1,100 metres at Caymanas Park last Saturday.
Owned and trained by Gary Griffiths and ridden by Shamaree Muir, Shining Light (Seeking The Glory–Bachelor) came with a storming run in deep stretch against the inside rails to beat Bubbling Kitten by a short head with Dreamliner just three-quarters of a length adrift in third in the event which included imported three-year-olds and upward non-winners of three and maidens, native-bred four-year-old non-winners of three other than and native-bred three-year-olds.
Griffiths said that he was confident in his charge’s chances.
“It was a very good performance by Shining Light today (Saturday) to get home narrowly. He is a tough campaigner that has always given his best each time raced and I am happy that he was able to bring home the winnings. His next assignment will be in the Overnight Allowance and I am expecting him to win there the first time of asking,” Griffiths told The Complete Racing Guide.
“I know that some of these younger horses will be better than Shining Light later on in their careers as they will develop nicely, but right now, Shining Light is more seasoned and I have him as better than this class and he proved me right,” added Griffiths.
Muir said he was pleased with Shining Light’s effort.
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Shining Light ran good and I am happy with his performance as he was good enough to get the job done. Based on his last run when he picked up the lead and swerved to the right in the last furlong and was beaten two lengths by Taranis andSouthern Cruise going 1,300 metres, I knew that once we got a clean run without any mishaps, it was going to be victory for us and that was the case,” Muir explained.
Muir held Shining Light into third position behind Dreamliner (Omar Walker) and Bubbling Kitten (Wesley Henry), with Cruising Motion, the mount of claiming apprentice Jerome Innis, on his outside approaching the half-mile.
Turning for home in third position on the inside rails with Dreamliner and Bubbling Kitten battling for supremacy,Shining Light then responded well from the urgings from Muir and the chestnut colt got up in time for an emphatic victory — his first for the season and fourth in his career from 19 starts.
The time of victory was an encouraging 1:07:1 minutes with splits of 23:1 and 47:0 seconds.