Page 204 - December_2023

RACING NEWS
WHITE LIGHTENIN
by Tracy Gantz
White Lightenin has found so many ways
to beat himself that co-owner Denis Schoenhofer cannot watch the gelding’s races live.
“It’s just that horse—I watch everything else,” said Denis, who owns White Lightenin with his wife Julie. “I will not watch him.”
Denis needn’t have worried in the Nov. 26 New Mexico Classic Derby-RG2 at Zia Park. White Lightenin turned in a perfect performance to capture the first stakes victory of his career.
Denis was concerned when White Lightenin drew the rail.
“When they loaded him first, you just think, ‘My gosh, he’s got a minute and a half to two minutes to mess up.’ It’s almost better if he goes last, you load, and open the gates immediately.”
Julie added that the trouble can begin even before that.
“When he is in the paddock, he is high- strung,” she said.
Maybe White Lightenin was out to prove his owners wrong because when the gates opened,
White Lightenin captures his first stakes victory in the New Mexico Classic Derby-RG2 under jockey Noe Garcia, Jr.
202 SPEEDHORSE December 2023
New Mexico Classic Derby-RG2
Zia Park
$228,550 • 400 yards :19.054 • SI 107
WHITE LIGHTENIN, ‘20-g.
Bred by: MJ Farms
Raced to 3 $286,023 12-4(1)-4(1)-1(1)
EYE AM KING
Bred by: Julianna Hawn Holt Raced to 3 • $50
1-0-0-0
281 f., 7 SW • $4,336,238
MR JESS PERRY SI 113 Bred by: Jesse Perry Raced to 4 • $687,184 21-12(5)-2(1)-0
2,012 f., 166 SW • $61,979,124
EYE FOR CORONA SI 99 Bred by: MLA International Company
Raced to 3 • $1,100,121 13-4(1)-4(3)-3
26 f., 2 SW • $353,023
ALICE K WHITE
SI 99
Bred by: MJ Farms Raced to 3 • $276,837 11-5(2)-2-1(1)
32 f., 4 SW • $2,259,869
FIRST DOWN DASH SI 105 Bred by: A.F. Stanley Jr./ B.F. Phillips Jr.
Raced to 3 • $857,256 15-13(8)-1(1)-0
2,547 f., 259 SW • $90,317,283
CHAMPAGNE LANE SI 106 Bred by: Janis Spencer Raced to 3 • $147,125 10-8(3)-0-1(1)
36 f., 6 SW • $1,799,979
Coady Photography