Looking Back 59) Light

                  Shooting Light

Shooting Light was another horse that came to Pond House in his later years having already achieved a lot but still went on to be very good for MCP from only a few runs and his chase rating improved over two stone.  He was a 1993 born bay gelding by Shernazar and his dam was called Church Light.  He started his career on the flat as a two year old in the care of Michael Jarvis.  He finished second to last on his debut at Doncaster in November 1995 but the winner was Shaamit who won the 1996 Derby!

He improved on his second start in April 1996 to finish second at Pontefract and got his first win over 1m4f at Hamilton on his third start.  He finished third twice after this before changing ownership and stables to be in the care of trainer Pat Murphy.  He was fourth on debut for his new stable before finishing down the field in a couple of flat handicaps.

His attentions were turned to hurdling in November 1996 and he won on his debut at Sandown.  He finished second at Newbury after this before winning the Finesse novices hurdle at Cheltenham and Finishing third in the Triumph hurdle at the 1997 Cheltenham Festival.  He was a winner on the flat that summer at Sandown and while he recorded no wins that winter over hurdles he posted some good efforts.  He was second in the Tote Silver Trophy at Newbury, fourth in the Bula hurdle at Chepstow, seventh in the Champion hurdle and fourth in the Martell hurdle at Aintree – nearly 30 lengths behind yesterday’s horse Pridwell.

He was down the field in a couple of runs on the flat in the summer of 1998 before further placed efforts, but no wins over hurdles the following winter.  He again was running well without winning.  He was second in the long distance hurdle at Newbury Grade2 before an unsuccessful three starts over fences.  He finished second in the fighting fifth hurdle at Newcastle and also third in the Bula hurdle at Cheltenham.

He was sent back over fences the following season and won a novice chase on his second start at Ascot before being placed back at the track in graded races.  His final run for Pat Murphy was in the Scottish Champion hurdle where he finished well beaten in April 2001.

Shooting Light arrived at Pond House in September 2001 and won on his stable debut, a handicap chase at Cheltenham in October off a mark of 123.  He was impressive, winning by 11 lengths with A P McCoy in the saddle.  He returned to the track the following month to win the Thomas Pink Gold Cup beating Foly Pleasant by three lengths.  Just watch the video below to see how much it meant to AP that day!  He went on to make it three wins from three starts for MCP by winning the Tote Silver Cup Listed chase at Ascot in December as well fairly comfortably.  He pulled up in the Gold Cup later that season before going on his summer holidays.

He was restricted to two runs the following season because of a tendon injury.  He finished fifth at Cheltenham in November, now rated 161 and pulled up in the King George chase at Kempton in 2002 which was won by Best Mate.

He was not seen back on the racecourse until February 2004 and made a fantastic comeback in winning the Aon Chase, Grade 2 at Newbury with Richard Johnson in the saddle at odds of 33/1.  He went to Kempton the following month but pulled up having very sadly suffered a fatal injury.

Shooting Light won nine races from 45 career starts and he was placed 17 times as well.  He ran in the colours of owners John Brown and Michael Blackburn who still have runners today although their colours are seen mainly on the flat these days.  Rated 162 at best he won over £224,000 in prize money in a career at the highest level.

Watch his win in the 2001 Thomas Pink Gold Cup here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVLNVaCI7U