IMAGINE getting a racehorse that cost just $1 if you could win a race with him?
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That’s the amazing scenario with Moruya trainer Debi-Lee Saxton and five-year-old gelding Lighthouse.
Lighthouse lines up on his home track at Moruya on Sunday out to record a hat-trick of wins and maintain its unbeaten record in the Ranbuild Sheds Class 2 Hcp over 1010m.
Saxton came by way of the gelding from fellow Moruya trainer John Gamble.
“John bred Lighthouse but he had a bad accident on him and badly smashed his pelvis and spent some time in hospital,” Saxton recalled. “He gave him to me and said if I could win a race with him I had to give him one dollar.
“I got him as a three-year-old but it took nearly two years to get him to the races.”
Time, patience and perseverance is finally paying dividends for Saxton the wife of south coast jockey Roly Saxton.
“He probably had four or five preparations before we finally got him to the races,” Saxton revealed. “At times I questioned my sanity.
“Do we keep going or pull the plus I asked myself and Roly many times. Mentally he just wasn’t right.
“He’d always shown us something but it took a long while to have him ready to race.
“He’s still a work in progress for us.”
Saxton admitted in the early, frustrating days Lighthouse and the trainer didn’t see eye to eye.
“Him and I didn’t bond at all,” Saxton added. “He used to bail me up in his box. I had to get Roly to feed him.
“Slowly but surely he eventually turned the corner. He’s a gem to do anything with now.”
Lighthouse finally made his race debut on November 4 romping home by a whopping eight lengths in a 920m maiden on his home track.
There was relief all round and yes, Saxton gladly handed over the dollar coin to Gamble.
The gelding by Irish sire Hemingway then scored by 1.5 lengths in a 1010m Benchmark 55 handicap, again on his home track on November 17.
Roly Saxton was aboard on both occasions.
While Lighthouse has shown ability Saxton believes the best is yet to come.
“The penny still hasn’t dropped with him,” she said.
“When he learns to really switch on he can live right up to his potential.
“He’s still very green. He doesn’t apply himself in trackwork as you would like.
“Next preparation he’ll be a better horse.”
Saxton added Lighthouse pulled up “really well” after his latest win.
“I’m going into Sunday pretty confident. I’m happy with what he’s done.”