Bermudian owners Joseph Vieira and Arnold Manders had cause for celebration after their Standardbred, Swiss Lights, won the Fox Stakes held during the Grand Circuit at the Indiana State Fair in Indiana.

With driver and trainer Ricky Macomber Jr in the bike, the two-year-old gelding led from gate-to-wire to take the win in 1min 52.2sec, slashing two fifths of a second from his previous lifetime mark of 1:52.4 in the process.

Swiss Lights grabbed the lead coming off the start, which he maintained at the halfway mark of the race.

Despite a late challenge from rivals Talk Softly and Atlee Bender, the highly touted Standardbred held on to pole position to lead the four-horse field across the line and pocket the lion’s share of the $45,093 purse on offer.

Swiss Lights has already exceeded the expectations of co-owner Manders, and former Bermuda cricketer, having won three of his four career starts and earned nearly $70,000.

“He is doing quite well and better than expected,” Manders told The Royal Gazette. “He’s athletic, has raw speed and is very gutsy, so he keeps himself in the race.

“He’s a good horse and has all the traits and the tools to make money. He’s been in four races and has been in the money in all four of them.”

Swiss Lights put down a marker after leading the field across the line on his debut to claim the $4,750 winner’s purse.

The horse then earned his biggest payday after pocketing $33,250 in prize money for winning the first leg of the Indiana Sire Stakes, for two-year-old pacing colts, at Harrah’s Hoosier Park last month.

Vieira and Manders own 50 per cent of Swiss Lights, along with Florida's Doug Overhiser.

Regarded among the top two-year-olds in the state, the gelded son of Rockin Image out of She’s Lights Out was bred by Merlie Schwartz and sold for $27,000 at the Hoosier Classic Yearling Sale last autumn.

Swiss Lights is also trained by Bermudian Kiwon Waldron, who is employed by Macomber and competes as a professional driver in Indiana, where he has multiple victories under his belt.

The two-year-old is a relative of Somebeachsomewhere, regarded as the greatest pacing horse and sire of all time, tying the world record for a mile as a three-year-old and achieving the highest earnings by a pacer in a single season of $2,448,003 in 2008.