Macomber stable on the fast track with Swiss Lights
by James Platz
Tonight (Aug. 15), Swiss Lights looks to add his fourth seasonal win in the opener at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Conditioned and piloted by Ricky Macomber, Jr., the Rockin Image—Shes Lights Out gelding already has an Indiana Sire Stakes victory under his belt, and last week he captured the 99th edition of the Fox Stake at the Indiana State Fair. Although he has been fast out of the gate among the youngsters in the division, he’s still learning the game.
“I think he is still green and learning,” Macomber, Jr. said. “He is still kind of acting like each start is his first start, looking at everything and wanting to be aggressive. We are working on manners every day.”
Swiss Lights sold at last year’s Hoosier Classic Sale as part of the 3-D Farms consignment. Offered around 100 horses into the sale’s second session, the colt is the second foal from a Somebeachsomewhere mare that earned more than $160,000 on the track, and whose dam is the $670,000 earner Arts Diva. At the time of purchase, Jamie Macomber served as trainer for the Macomber stable, and picked out the yearling, paying $27,000 as agent for Doug Overhiser.
“He made the list because of his breeding and he was on my dad’s short list as well,” she explained. “He was my perfect size and he was beautiful. He had a slight toe in and that was me looking really hard for a fault.”
Joining Overhiser in the ownership group are Bermuda-based owners Arnold Manders, and Joseph Vieira. They are new owners for the Macomber stable, but long-time participants in pony racing and harness racing.
“They came with our second trainer,” Jamie said. “They are like family to Ki Waldron, who is also from Bermuda. I met them for the first time when they were here for the colt’s first start.”
Within a few months of the Hoosier Classic’s conclusion, Jamie took on the role of co-sale manager, now under new ownership and branded the Midwest Standardbred Horse Sale. That left Ricky to take over the training duties. As the winter turned to spring, Swiss Lights displayed all the right traits, but needed an education.
“He showed a lot of raw speed but he had no idea what to do with it,” Ricky said. “He would have speed bursts, so we had to teach him what to do with it and use it when we asked. He just wanted to go fast and beat the others, so, yes, he showed signs, but he has come a long way with managing his speed and himself.”
While he may be a budding star for the stable, in the barn he is located beside one of the Macombers’ bona fide standouts, Dover In Motion. And he is already learning from his trotting counterpart and winner of more than $680,000 lifetime.
“His stall is next to Dover In Motion, so he has developed a love for apples with ‘Dover,’” Ricky said. “You can’t just give Dover apples anymore.”
Bred by Merlie Schwartz, Swiss Lights handled his first taste of competition with ease. Qualifying in mid-June at Hoosier Park, the freshman took control after the quarter and then breezed to a six-length advantage at the wire, stopping the clock in 1:55.2. He would return June 25 to win his pari-mutuel debut with Ricky in the bike, finishing over three lengths in front as the favorite in a time of 1:54.2.
“I didn’t know what to expect because you don’t know what everyone else has,” the trainer/driver said of the gelding’s first few attempts. “I did know he was doing everything right and doing it well, and he had the speed.”
That speed was on full display in the opening round of sire stakes competition July 11 at the Anderson oval. Sent off as the second choice behind Jk The Great in a $66,500 division, Ricky and Swiss Lights patiently sat third through the mile before dashing home in :26.3. The duo edged Jk The Great and Marcus Miller by a half-length, pacing the mile in 1:52.4.
In the second leg they tangled with the talented Dancingdreamer and Royal Richie Doyle. Despite posting the fastest last quarter in the field (:25.3) and timed in 1:52, the gelding had to settle for third behind the other two.
Between sire stakes legs, Ricky dropped Swiss Lights into Grand Circuit action in Indianapolis on Aug. 6. In against three others in the $45,093 Fox Stake, the freshman wired the field to win by a half-length in 1:52.2. The Fox Stake victory was the second in three years for the stable. In 2023, Warrior For Truth would be declared the winner weeks after the contest due to the disqualification of Tellmeitmatters. The couple didn’t get to experience the winner’s circle presentation then. All that changed last week, and it was special.
“It means a lot, every win means something, just some more than others,” Jamie said. “I am not from Indiana, but have been here longer than I have been in one place my entire life. To me, we race at the State Fair for the Fox Stake. We go to the State Fair for the Fox Stake, so it is awesome to win it. It also has memories for me as a kid traveling to the Indiana State Fair for the Grand Circuit with my parents when we had the stock. For Ricky, this one meant more because he actually won the race — rather than being placed — and he had never won the Fox Stake.”
Swiss Lights starts from post 3 in the first of two Indiana Sire Stakes divisions tonight at Hoosier Park, a $66,000 contest that has drawn six entries. He is in against three other winners led by the Ron Burke-trained What Nooo Waaay, a victor in sire stakes both in Indiana and Kentucky this season.
