Shoe worn by the racehorse Fantastic Light.

Shoe worn by the racehorse Fantastic Light,
mounted on a wooden plaque with easel support and set with an engraved metal plaque, 20 by 15cm.

Provenance: The Ray Goddard Collection (lots 97 to 178). For further information on Ray Goddard and the collection see lot 144.

Fantastic Light was a US-bred bay colt foaled in 1996 by Rahy out of Jood (Nijinsky. Until early 2000 he was owned by Maktoum Al Maktoum and trained at Newmarket by Sir Michael Stoute. He then transferred to Godolphin to be trained by Saeed bin Suroor.

When in the former ownership, the colt won the Sandown Classic Trial, the Great Voltigeur Stakes and the Arc Trial at Newbury in 1999; and the Dubai Sheema Classic in 2000. The first successes for new connections came later that year, and at the highest grade, with victories in the Man o’War Stakes and Hong Kong Cup. Fantastic Light improved more as a 5-y-o and in a memorable campaign won the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Turf (setting a new course record). Of these victories, the Irish Champion Stakes is of worth mention. Fantastic Light’s narrow defeat of the great Galileo was a supreme clash of two alpha male thoroughbreds not conceding an inch to their rival; whilst the Godolphin v Coolmore race tactics added a further fascination to one of the most memorable races of the 21st Century.

At Stud, the best of his progeny would include Scintillo (Gran Criterium) and, in Australia, Mission Critical (Whakanui Stud International Stakes).