HORSE RACING
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Persistent hoof problems have forced the retirement of Brilliant Light, described by Kerry Parker as the best horse he’s ever trained that was never meant to be.
Parker battled for more than a year to have the multiple stakes winner fit to race again, but finally pulled the pin after Brilliant Light split a hoof following his latest jumpout.
But the fact connections had a chance to race Brilliant Light at all is a feat in itself, with part-owner Antony Surace revealing he was cold on the idea of buying a yearling in 2007.
It was only the day of that year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale that Surace’s wife convinced him not to give up on his passion despite his own job insecurity – and even then Brilliant Light wasn’t a prospective purchase.
‘‘We’d picked about 30 or 40 which Kerry, as usual, had knocked back for one reason or another,’’ Surace recalled.
‘‘As we were looking at one of the ones I liked he saw Brilliant Light in his peripheral vision and said, ‘that’s it, that’s the one I like’.
‘‘He fell in love with him instantly. He was going to buy him no matter what.’’
Even if that meant bidding above their $30,000 ceiling by a couple of thousand dollars.
‘‘He was a horse that never should have been: he wasn’t picked out, we weren’t going to buy a horse that year and we were outbid to our limit and kept going,’’ Surace said.
‘‘For us he was a once in a lifetime horse.
‘‘He gave us some of the greatest moments that an owner would want: finishing third in a Group 1 and winning a couple of stakes races.
‘‘He was the second horse for a lot of the owners and the third horse for me. We were all pretty new to ownership and to have a stakes winner [was fantastic].’’
Fittingly, the last time Brilliant Light finished in the placings was his tough-as-nails third in the 2010 Doncaster Handicap.
That autumn campaign included wins in the Ajax Stakes (Group 2) and Doncaster Prelude (Listed). He finished his career just shy of $500,000 in prizemoney.
The now seven-year-old has been battling feet complaints ever since and is recovering at the Illawarra Equine Centre at Meroo Meadow.
‘‘I’d say he’s the best horse I’ve ever trained . . . and potentially better,’’ Parker said.
Brilliant Light’s retirement was tinged with further sadness for his connections, the majority of whom raced Kembla Grange maiden winner Sweet Impulse, which died this month.