Fantastic Light Wins Tattersalls Gold Cup; Kalanisi Third

With stablemate Give the Slip providing an honest pace to set up the closing kick of Fantasic Light, Godolphin's 5-year-old son of Rahy edged Golden Snake in the stretch to earn a neck-length victory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Ire-I) on Sunday at the Curragh. In his seasonal debut, Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT) winner Kalanisi finished third, three lengths behind the runner-up. Give the Slip came home fourth in the six-horse field.

Fantastic Light earned his first win of the year in his second 2001 appearance. In March, he was edged by a nose in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-II). As a 4-year-old he earned over $4.5 million and won the Man o' War Stakes (gr. IT), the Hong Kong Cup (HK-I), and the Dubai Sheema Classic, then a group III race. Sunday's win improves his career mark to nine wins from 21 starts. He is trained for Godolphin by Saeed bin Suroor.

Under Frankie Dettori, 5-4 favorite Fantastic Light completed the 1 5/16 miles in 2:13 2/5 on good to yielding turf.

"He's very special and a fantastic horse," said Simon Crisford, Godolphin's racing manager. "We will map out a big program for him, including all the top European mile-and-a-quarter and mile-and-a-half races. Richard Hills did a fine job on Give The Slip. Although he is a good horse in his own right, Give The Slip will follow Fantastic Light round in all his races."