Lightstream takes stakes bow in Beaumont, Nickname second

Up Hill Stable and Head of Plains Partners LLC’s Lightstream broke her maiden by 2 1/4 lengths on March 6 going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park, good for a 104 BRIS Speed rating.

On Sunday, the Brian Lynch trainee parlayed that victory into a three-quarter length score in her stakes bow, the $150,000 Beaumont (G3), going the same seven-furlong distance at Keeneland.

Lightstream and jockey Julien Leparoux bided their time well behind the front runners, with R Girls a Charmer setting splits of :22.22 and :44.64 while closely tracked by Kinsley Kisses and Nickname up front. Nickname took over rounding the turn and held command in the stretch.

Leparoux guided Lightstream over to the rail in the lane and the Harlan’s Holiday filly kept motoring to run down Nickname and stop the clock in 1:26.27 over Keeneland’s fast main track.

Despite owning just one start and trying stakes rivals for the first time in this spot, the betting public sent Lightstream off as the 6-5 favorite and she returned $4.60. Nickname was 1 1/2 lengths better than Kinsley Kisses on the wire to take second, while R Girls a Charmer followed in fourth by 4 1/2 lengths and American Doll brought the rear of the five-filly field.

The Beaumont is the final race in the Road to the Kentucky Oaks series of points races, awarding Lightstream 10 points toward a starting berth in that nine-furlong affair. That’s not enough to get her in the field, even if she had been pointing to it, but Nickname’s spot is secured in the Oaks field if her connections send her to the May 6 contest thanks to the four points she earned.

Lightstream’s current target, according to Lynch, is the $700,000 Acorn (G1) going a mile at Belmont Park on June 11. Thus far she is perfect in two starts and boasts $117,000 in career earnings.

Bred in Kentucky by Ann Marie Farm, Lightstream is the first registered stakes winner out of the stakes-winning Arch mare North Beach, who is a half-sister to Grade 3 victor Kilgowan. This is the same female family as champion and sire Afleet Alex, who captured the 2005 Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1) after running third in that year’s Kentucky Derby (G1).

Lightstream photo courtesy of Keeneland/Coady Photography