Group 2 Winner Lightsaber Retired to Stud

Group 2-winning juvenile colt Lightsaber, a son of one of Australia's premier stallions, Zoustar , went agonizingly close to group 1 glory. But while trainer Peter Moody and connections were left to lament what could have been, Western Australian studmaster Brent Atwell is glad the 4-year-old entire narrowly missed at the top level.

The Darling View Thoroughbreds principal and his breeding partners have purchased Lightsaber, the 2021 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes (G2) winner, to stand at stud in 2023 and beyond, bringing an end to his 19-start race career.

The depth of Lightsaber's form—he won a Caulfield Guineas Prelude (G2) as a spring 3-year-old, ran fourth in the Caulfield Guineas (G1) later that campaign, and finished runner-up to Hitotsu in the Australian Guineas (G1) the following autumn—had the breeder look long and hard at the stallion prospect.

"For us, first and foremost, it's always difficult to find horses of any sort of level to come to Perth because they're so expensive, so we've got to look far and wide, but he does stack up," Atwell said this week.

Atwell had been considering multiple potential first-season stallion options available on the open market to follow on from the momentum generated by Darling View's 2022 freshman Splintex, who covered 118 mares in his maiden season. He was convinced Lightsaber was the best candidate.

"We've got plenty of Danehill-line horses over here, so I was looking for that out-cross to come to Perth, and Zoustar's obviously a champion in his own right and doing big things in the Northern Hemisphere as well, so he was a horse we were trying to find the next one by," the breeder said.

"Zousain, to me, looks like he could be the 'next one' on the east coast by Zoustar. As far as types go, I thought they were outstanding at all the weanling sales last year that I went to, so if Lightsaber can throw a type like Zousain, then we're on our way."

The stallion's former trainer, Moody, said from the Gold Coast Jan. 5 that if Lightsaber had not been snapped up by Darling View Thoroughbreds, a deal finalized on Wednesday after it was brokered by Premium Bloodstock Services' Grant Burns, the 5-year-old would have raced on "in top company."

"He was a good type of horse, a group 2-winning 2-year-old, who was dreadfully unlucky not to have won the (Australian) Guineas at 3 due to having a very awkward preparation," Moody told ANZ Bloodstock News.

Purchased by Blueblood Thoroughbreds for AU$100,000 (US$70,692) from the 2020 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, Lightsaber is out of the unraced Dream Ahead mare Dream Cirque, a half sister to the stakes-placed four-time winner Distant Rock. While there is stallion power on his dam side, with champion Fastnet Rock (Danehill) featuring in his pedigree.

Lightsaber, who won four races and earned AU$822,500 ($607,859) in prize money, has been syndicated to existing and new breeding partners of Darling View Thoroughbreds, which has Atwell confident that the stallion will get every chance of serving a big book of mares when the 2023 season starts on Sept.1.

A service fee for Lightsaber will be announced at a later date.