It’s a Dark Day for Lite Light : Del Mar: Highly regarded 3-year-old runs third to Vieille Vigne, Formidable Lady in Chula Vista Handicap.

Only a few hours after her adversary from the East, Meadow Star, had gone down to an improbable defeat at Belmont Park, Lite Light suffered an equally unlikely loss at Del Mar, running third behind Vieille Vigne and Formidable Lady in Sunday’s $210,000 Chula Vista Handicap.

The twin upsets made a shambles of the national 3-year-old filly division, which before Sunday had been dominated by Lite Light and Meadow Star, who had taken turns beating each other this summer in New York.

Now, hope beats in the hearts of trainers such as Jude Feld, the onetime Daily Racing Form chart-taker who dissuaded Vieille Vigne’s owners from skipping the Chula Vista to run in a race at Turfway Park near Cincinnati in three weeks.

Vieille Vigne, who went off at 19-1, unleashed her winning move leaving the far turn and held on under Martin Pedroza to beat Formidable Lady by a half-length. Formidable Lady finished six lengths ahead of Lite Light, who at 3-5 suffered her worst defeat since a 12th-place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes.

Brought To Mind, the 9-5 second choice in a crowd of 21,741, had been given the best chance of upsetting Lite Light on Sunday, but after the two favorites battled for the lead until they reached the quarter pole, Brought To Mind had nothing left for the drive and finished fourth, beaten by seven lengths.

Jabalina Brown was the only other finisher in the six-horse field, with Cascading Gold breaking down on the backstretch. She fractured a bone in her left foreleg and the prognosis was not favorable for veterinarians to save her.

At Belmont on Sunday, Queena won the Maskette Handicap, and Meadow Star, making her first start since Lite Light beat her by seven lengths in the Coaching Club American Oaks about two months back, finished fourth.

Vieille Vigne, carrying 116 pounds, five less than Lite Light, paid $41 to win, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 3/5, the slowest winning time since the stake was first run at its current distance in 1981. The 4-year-old French-bred filly earned $120,300 for her owners, Ian Fry of England and Dick Gasen of Pasadena. Neither owner was here Sunday. Fry stayed home and Gasen was at the Arlington Million, where their travel agency was hosting a group.

“I had to fight my clients to run,” said Feld, 34, who enjoyed his biggest victory since making his training debut in a Del Mar race in 1980. “My filly likes this track. I always felt that we were going to beat Brought To Mind one of these days, and I didn’t even know Lite Light was going to run when we decided to go in this race.”

Before Vieille Vigne won the Bayakoa Handicap here on Aug. 14, she had been beaten twice by Brought To Mind in stakes at Hollywood Park. This was only the fifth victory in 19 starts for Vieille Vigne, but this year she has seldom run a dull race with three wins, three seconds and two thirds in 10 tries.

Jerry Hollendorfer, who trains Lite Light for M.C. Hammer and his family, didn’t like the way the race unfolded, let alone the crushing outcome. Despite breaking in the air at the start, Brought To Mind still grabbed the lead through a 46 3/5-second half-mile, and Lite Light was right alongside of her.

“I didn’t want to see my horse go head-and-head with the other horse on the lead,” Hollendorfer said. “But Corey (Nakatani) said that he couldn’t keep our filly back. It could be that it was because our horse was fresh (unraced since the Coaching Club).”

Nakatani advised against dismissing Lite Light. “She’ll be tough next time,” the jockey said. “I thought I had her in a good spot. I was trying to get her to relax, but she was too fresh. Then when Brought To Mind came up outside me, I was forced to go. I didn’t want to be on the lead, but there I was.”

The Chula Vista was to be a prep for Lite Light’s most ambitious race, facing colts in the $1-million Super Derby at Louisiana Downs later this month, but that plan is now on hold. Hollendorfer said Sunday that another possibility is the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, with the ultimate goal the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.