IRL:Calstone Light O

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Calstone Light O
カルストンライトオ
Main
Calstone Light O and jockey Naohiro Onishi, winning the 2004 Sprinters Stakes
Silks
Romaji	Karusuton Raito O
Foaled	May 03, 1998
Died	February 07, 2024
Sire	Warning
Dam	Oshima Lucia
Sex	Stallion
Color	Dark bay
Trainer	Hiroyuki Oeda
Race Record	36: 9-4-7
Earnings	422,044,000 JPY
Major wins
Ibis Summer Dash (2002, 2004) Sprinter Stakes (2004)

Idaten

Idaten

His name was short, as if he had no time to call out his own name, but he was an eccentric sprinter that showed speed that left even light behind.
— norauma, umafuri.com

Calstone Light O was a Japanese racehorse that was active from 2000 to 2005. A specialist in sprints, he holds the Niigata straight 1000m course record with a finishing time of 53.7 seconds while also running the fastest furlong (200m) ever achieved by a Japanese racehorse in 9.6s, or a speed of 75 km/h. He was known as the "Idaten" (韋駄天 "God of Speed") during his active years.

Name Origin

The horse's name was derived from “Calstone” (meaning “light stone”), inspired by the pumice stones Sadamitsu Shimizu, the owner of Calstone Light O, handled in his main business. The “Light” part comes from the owner's name “Sadamitsu (貞光)”, and “O” from ‘King’ (王). Due to character limits for the horse name, the elongated vowel sound was omitted, resulting in the name “Calstone Light O”.

Racing career

Pre-debut

On May 3, 1998, at Oshima Farm in Urakawa Town, Hokkaido, a dark bay thoroughbred was born. The horse's initial trainer was Hiroya Ooneda, father of Hiroyuki Ooneda. The horse’s owner, Sadamitsu Shimizu, had a connection with the Ooneda stable as it was where he first entrusted his horses. With Hiroyuki Ooneda nearing retirement, Shimizu invited him to pick his favorite horse, leading to the selection of this foal. Originally slated to be sold at auction, the horse was subsequently purchased by Shimizu at a Summer Sale in 1999.

The God of Speed

After consecutive wins in his Maiden Race and the Kaede Sho, he finished 10th in the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes. After, he was the favorite in the Falcon Stakes, the Ibis Summer Dash (at age 3 under maiden age classification), and the Centaur Stakes, but suffered narrow defeats. In 2001, he competed in and won the Aoi stakes, setting a record time of 1:07.4 over 1,200 meters. He secured his first graded stakes victory in the 2002 Ibis Summer Dash as a 4-year-old. His winning time that day (53.7 seconds) remains the current record for the Niigata straight 1,000m course, and he clocked a time of 9.6s between the 400m-200m furlong, the fastest ever recorded by a Japanese racehorse.

In 2003, Calstone Light O made a comeback in September and participated in five races. He earned a victory in the open-class Andromeda Stakes. However, Calstone Light O would then have three finishes outside the top ten. While the horse's speed was recognized by fans, his performances led to doubts about his capability in graded stakes races. Additionally, his aggressive racing style of taking the lead early often led to him tending to fall behind.

In 2004, though, Calstone Light O claimed victory in the Ibis Summer Dash. Following this, he delivered a dominant performance in the Sprinters Stakes, winning by an impressive four-length margin over the runner-up, Durandal.

In the Ibis Summer Dash, Calstone Light O started from an inner gate but quickly moved to the outside, maintaining a strong lead to the finish. In the Sprinters Stakes, he took advantage of the heavy track conditions, unleashing a remarkable acceleration from the fourth corner to pull away decisively. The skilled riding of jockey Naohiro Onishi, who matched the horse’s temperament and racing style, netted them these important wins.

However, come 2005, Calstone Light O stopped seeing any further wins; securing a second-place finish in the Hankyu Hai and coming in fourth at the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. Subsequently, he once again entered the Ibis Summer Dash as the favorite, with odds of 1.8 to 1. Despite weighing in at 492 kilograms and starting from an inside post, he finished fourth in the race. In his next outing in the Sprinters Stakes, although he briefly took the lead in the stretch, he ultimately finished tenth. This marked the end of his competitive career, as he officially retired on November 2, 2005.

Retirement and death

After retiring from racing in 2006, Calstone Light O began his stud career at Rex Stud in Shizunai Town, Hokkaido. In November 2010, he was transferred to Hashimoto Farm in Abira Town. By 2017, he had sired three winners of regional stakes races, all full siblings out of the mare Sea Fairy, who was sired by Uto Kaiser and grandsired by Sunday Silence.

He passed away 7th of February 2024 at the age of 26.

Honors

• Fastest furlong speed achieved by a Japanese racehorse (9.6s, 75 km/h)
• Current record holder of the Niigata straight 1000m course (53.7s)

Race Records

Race data sourced from netkeiba.

Date	Racecourse	Race	Grade	Distance	Gate	Odds	Fav.	Fin.	Time	Margin	Jockey	Winner (Runner-Up)	Other Umamusume
2000/11/05	Kyoto	Three-Year-Old Newcomer	Maiden	T 1200m	2	5.2	3	1	1:09.5	-0.7	T.Koike	(Capital Luck)
2000/11/25	Kyoto	Kaede Sho	Pre-OP	T 1200m	8	3.6	2	1	1:08.9	-1.0	S.Kumazawa	(Rugger Pageant)
2000/12/10	Nakayama	Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes	G1	T 1600m	15	26.5	8	10	1:35.7	1.2	T.Koike	Mejiro Bailey
2001/01/28	Kyoto	Violet Stakes	OP	D 1400m	11	3.3	1	10	1:26.4	1.7	S.Kumazawa	Meiner Ehre
2001/04/01	Hanshin	Marguerite Stakes	OP	T 1400m	9	8.8	5	2	1:21.2	0.1	S.Kumazawa	Stima
2001/05/12	Kyoto	Aoi Stakes	OP	T 1200m	5	2.0	1	1	1:07.4	-0.1	S.Kumazawa	(Resurreccion)
2001/06/10	Chukyo	Falcon Stakes	G3	T 1200m	2	2.7	1	3	1:09.1	0.2	S.Kumazawa	Rusunai Christie	Believe
2001/07/08	Hanshin	Bodaiju Stakes	OP	T 1600m	11	6.5	5	4	1:34.5	0.9	S.Kumazawa	Meisho Ramses
2001/07/22	Kokura	Kitakyushu Tankyori Stakes	OP	T 1200m	1	3.5	3	1	1:07.9	-0.1	S.Kumazawa	(Nobori Yukio)
2001/08/19	Niigata	Ibis Summer Dash	G3	T 1000m	5	3.0	1	3	0:54.2	0.3	S.Kumazawa	Mejiro Darling
2001/09/09	Hanshin	Centaur Stakes	G3	T 1200m	11	3.0	1	3	1:08.2	0.1	S.Kumazawa	Tennessee Girl
2001/10/28	Fukushima	Fukushima Minyu Cup	OP	T 1200m	14	3.6	1	2	1:08.5	0.4	J.Serizawa	Yuwa Falcon
2001/11/25	Kyoto	Andromeda Stakes	OP	T 1200m	3	2.5	1	6	1:08.4	0.3	H.Kawachi	Tenshino Kiseki
2001/12/15	Chukyo	CBC Sho	G2	T 1200m	5	4.9	2	9	1:10.2	1.1	H.Kawachi	Rikiai Taikan
2002/06/08	Chukyo	TV Aichi Open	OP	T 1200m	6	40.9	10	13	1:09.9	1.3	K.Take	Native Heart	Believe
2002/06/29	Fukushima	TUF Hai	Pre-OP	T 1200m	2	4.1	1	1	1:08.4	-0.4	N.Onishi	(Tenzan Desert)
2002/07/14	Niigata	NST Open	OP	T 1400m	3	14.1	5	7	1:19.6	0.6	N.Onishi	Magnaten
2002/08/04	Kokura	Kokura Nikkei Open	OP	T 1200m	3	1.5	1	3	1:08.3	0.2	S.Kumazawa	Tenshino Kiseki
2002/08/18	Niigata	Ibis Summer Dash	G3	T 1000m	12	2.6	2	1	0:53.7	-0.3	N.Onishi	(Breaktime)
2002/09/08	Hanshin	Centaur Stakes	G3	T 1200m	10	5.8	2	3	1:07.8	0.7	N.Onishi	Believe	Believe
2002/10/06	Fukushima	Fukushima Mimpo Hai	OP	T 1200m	8	3.0	1	3	1:08.3	0.1	N.Onishi	Star El Dorado
2002/10/26	Kyoto	Swan Stakes	G2	T 1400m	4	62.8	11	13	1:21.9	2.1	S.Kumazawa	Shonan Kampf
2003/09/14	Hanshin	Centaur Stakes	G3	T 1200m	11	64.9	7	12	1:09.4	1.6	K.Take	Tenshino Kiseki	Believe, Durandal
2003/10/05	Nakayama	Sprinters' Stakes	G1	T 1200m	9	76.9	11	13	1:09.6	1.6	I.Murata	Durandal	Durandal, Believe
2003/10/26	Fukushima	Fukushima Minyu Cup	OP	T 1200m	7	5.7	3	5	1:07.6	0.2	N.Onishi	Atago Taisho
2003/11/30	Kyoto	Andromeda Stakes	OP	T 1200m	1	8.6	5	1	1:10.3	-0.2	T.Koike	(She is Tosho)
2003/12/21	Chukyo	CBC Sho	G2	T 1200m	2	14.9	5	10	1:09.5	1.0	T.Koike	She is Tosho
2004/06/20	Fukushima	Baden-Baden Cup	OP	T 1200m	13	10.7	5	2	1:07.3	0.0	N.Onishi	Wonder Seattle
2004/07/04	Hakodate	Hakodate Sprint Stakes	G3	T 1200m	3	9.8	5	3	1:09.7	0.3	J.Serizawa	She is Tosho
2004/08/22	Niigata	Ibis Summer Dash	G3	T 1000m	5	2.2	1	1	0:53.9	-0.5	N.Onishi	(Takao Ruby)
2004/10/03	Nakayama	Sprinters' Stakes	G1	T 1200m	5	8.5	5	1	1:09.9	-0.7	N.Onishi	(Durandal)	Durandal
2004/12/12	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Sprint	G1	T 1000m	3			14	1:00.1	3.3	N.Onishi	Silent Witness
2005/02/27	Hanshin	Hankyu Hai	G3	T 1200m	16	5.7	3	2	1:08.5	0.0	N.Onishi	Keeneland Swan
2005/03/27	Chukyo	Takamatsunomiya Kinen	G1	T 1200m	13	7.1	3	4	1:08.9	0.5	N.Onishi	Admire Max
2005/08/21	Niigata	Ibis Summer Dash	G3	T 1000m	1	1.8	1	4	0:54.5	0.5	N.Onishi	T M Churasan
2005/10/02	Nakayama	Sprinters' Stakes	G1	T 1200m	9	26.3	8	10	1:08.0	0.7	N.Onishi	Silent Witness	Durandal

Pedigree

Horse pedigree of Calstone Light O (JPN)

Sire Warning (GB)	Known Fact (USA)	In Reality (USA)	Intentionally (USA)
			My Dear Girl (USA)
		Tamerett (USA)	Tim Tam (USA)
			Mixed Marriage (GB)
	Slightly Dangerous (USA)	Roberto (USA)	Hail to Reason (USA)
			Bramalea (USA)
		Where You Lead (USA)	Raise a Native (USA)
			Noblesse (GB)
Dam Oshima Lucia (JPN)	Crystal Glitters (USA)	Blushing Groom (FR)	Red God (USA)
			Runaway Bride (GB)
		Tales to Tell (USA)	Donut King (USA)
			Fleeting Doll (USA)
	Oshima Suzuran (JPN)	Kauai King (USA)	Native Dancer (USA)
			Sweep In (USA)
		Never Jo O (JPN)	Never Beat (GB)
			Gunshin (JPN), (Family: 10-b)

Trivia

• He is the one of very few horses carrying the Godolphin Arabian sire line in Japan.
• He had a tendency to lean his head to the right while racing, and his only G1 win, the 2004 Sprinters' Stakes, is on the right-handed Nakayama Racecourse.