Joseph Vieira and Arnold Manders sell star racing pony
Bermudian owners Joseph Vieira and Arnold Manders are on the lookout for a new harness pony after selling their highly touted Standardbred, Swiss Lights, to an anonymous buyer.
The three-year-old gelding attracted interest from potential purchasers after achieving considerable success in his debut season on the harness racing scene in Indiana last year.
“It’s unfortunate that we are out of it now and I am a little disappointed, but it was a great opportunity so we opted to sell,” Vieira told The Royal Gazette.
“Someone came looking for the horse to purchase as we didn’t have him on the market or intended to sell him.
“We will now see what is out there and if we can find another to compete this upcoming season. But it will be hard to find another two-year-old like that as he was exceptional.”
Former star cricketer Manders also has mixed feelings over parting company with his horse.
“It’s disappointing to sell and I am hurting but business is business,” he said.
Vieira and Manders previously owned 50 per cent of Swiss Lights, along with Florida's Doug Overhiser.
The horse earned $137,214 in prize money and had two wins in eight starts last year.
Swiss Lights made a grand entrance on the Indiana harness racing scene 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.
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 in 2024.
Swiss Lights was also trained by Bermudian Kiwon Waldron who competes as a professional driver in Indiana, where he has multiple victories under his belt.
The three-year-old horse is a relative of Somebeachsomewhere, regarded as the greatest pacing horse and sire of all time, equalling 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.
