Popular pacer Soft Light, one of the top free-for-all pacers of his generation has died at the age of 27

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Garth Gordon conditioned the son of Storm Damage who scored victories in the Toronto Pacing Series, the Valedictory, and a memorable decision over Matt Scooter at Mohawk in 1989. He won 55 races, $691,220 and took a mark of 1:52.3 for owners Leonard Coulson and James Smith.

"He was a big, well-bred horse. We paid $30,000 for him as a yearling in Lexington," recalls Gordon who notes that the horse wore a 63-inch hobble. "He never made the races until August of his three-year-old year so he made a lot of money the hard way. Soft Light tackled invitational free-for-all pacers in his 15th lifetime start.

"One of my fondest memories in this business is racing in the CanAm series with Soft Light at Blue Bonnets one summer day in 1989," says Gordon who was in the sulky that day. "He was a big, flashy horse and we opened up on the field in the stretch. His mane was flying, his tail was up and there was 10 to 12 thousand people there. It was something."

Soft Light also brings back memories for his regular driver, Mike Saftic, who says the bay was one of the first good horses he sat behind.

"He had a big engine and boy could he leave. He could race here (at Woodbine) today and he could probably go a quarter in :25."

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Soft Light.