Flightline dominant in Breeders’ Cup Classic victory

LEXINGTON, Ky.—After Flightline ran away and hid from his seven rivals in the $6 million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Racecourse Saturday afternoon, winning by 8 1/4 lengths, trainer John Sadler was asked if Flightline was the best horse he has ever trained.

 The 4-year-old colt who was bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine, may be able to claim that title and, according to Sadler, join the ranks of “Secretariat and Seattle Slew that only come along once every 20 years or more.”

The postrace press conference attended by the owners Kosta Hronis, Jane Lyon of Summerwind and Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds left two major questions unanswered: ‘Does Flightline retire to stud now? Or, does he come back and race next year?’

Hronis, who acted as spokesman for much of the session said, “We all very respectful of this partnership. We’ll all get together and discuss that even steven.” He did not announce a date for that discussion.

When Flavian Prat, Flightline’s only rider in his seven starts, went after the pace setting Life Is Good passing the quarter pole, the race was virtually over. Most horses would have decelerated after chasing fractions 22.45 seconds for the quarter-mile, 46.47 for the half and 1:09.62 for three-quarters.

Prat kept riding until he looked back passing the 16th pole and saw his colt had shed all challengers. They still got home in 2:00.05 for the 1 1/4 miles while being in hand.

Racing fans who are statistics enthusiasts will point to Flightline’s total of 70 winning lengths from his seven starts. At eight feet per length, that computes out to 560 feet or roughly a 10th of a mile. Those numbers would be even higher if he was physically able to race earlier than April of his 3-year-old year.

At the betting windows, Flightline, the 2-5 favorite, paid $2.80 to win, $2.92 to place and $2.30 to show under the Kentucky rules that require the tracks to pay to the penny. Olympiad, a 26-1 outsider, paid $12.38 and $7.16. The 3-year-old Taiba paid $4.00 for his show efforts.

European invaders scored their biggest win of the day when Rebel’s Romance came out of the 13-horse field to score a 2 1/4-length win in the $4 million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Champion European trainer Charlie Appleby had James Doyle on the 4-year-old gelding in place of his first call rider William Buick, who took the ride on Nations Pride, the winner of the $1 million, Grade I Saratoga Derby Invitational this summer.

The win for Doyle, who has extensive experience riding in North America, was his first in a Breeders’ Cup race.

The win for Rebel’s Romance boosted his record to nine wins in 12 starts. The $2.08 million he won Saturday has improved his bankroll for his Godolphin owner, Sheik Mohammed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, to just short of the $3 million mark.

After the race, Doyle said he had “Some trouble to get off the inside rail. But, he came running down the middle of the straight (home stretch).” Appleby agreed with his rider saying “He’s not easy around those turns, with the size of him.”

Goodnight Olive, a filly who has had her share of training setbacks, kicked off the day’s racing with a 2 1/2-length win in the $1 million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The win for the 4-year-old was her sixth in a row and her second straight in Grade I company for Steve Layman’s Front Row Partners, Jay Hanley and trainer Chad Brown, Saratoga’s five-time training champion.

In her last outing, the daughter of Ghostzapper from Sally Strike, took the lead around Saratoga’s Union Avenue turn and charged to the win in the $500,000, Grade I Ballerina.

With Saratoga riding champion Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the saddle, Goodnight Olive let several of the 12 fillies in the Breeders’ Cup race do the early running. Ortiz sent her after the leaders on the far turn, took command at the head of the stretch and then rode her to the win over Echo Zulu and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr.

After the race, Brown said he was forced to “Space her races so that we didn’t give her too much to do too soon.” When asked about the similarity between Goodnight Olive’s Ballerina and Breeders’ Cup races, Brown said, “Her race today matched the Ballerina, which certainly was our goal.”

Those who backed Goodnight Olive collected $5.70, $3.82 and $2.98. The $520,000 the filly earned made her a million-dollar winner.

The most thrilling race of the afternoon was the $2 million, Grade I Distaff when Clairiere, Blue Stripe and Malathaat all hit the wire together in the mile and a furlong contest on the main track.

After the placing judges examined the image, they posted Malathaat and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who were on the outside of the trio, as the winners by a nose.

Blue Stripe and Hector Berrios, who were the center of the equine sandwich, were second by a nose over Clairiere and Joel Rosario, who were against the rail.

Malathaat, the 2021 Juvenile Filly Champion, posted a three-straight win streak with her Breeders’ Cup win that started with a half-length win in Saratoga’s $600,000, Grade 1 Personal Ensign and moved on to a 5 1/4-length win in Keeneland’s Grade I Spinster.

Trainer Todd Pletcher lauded Velazquez’ ride aboard Malathaat saying, “She can be a little tricky. You can’t get to the lead with her too early.”

Cody’s Wish bested eight rivals in the $1 million, Grade I Dirt Mile. In his last outing, the Godolphin runner took home the trophy from Saratoga’s $600,000, Grade I Forego.

Cody’s Wish, who is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, is now 7-for-11 in the win column with earnings of more than $1.3 million.

Coolmore’s world-wide breeding and racing operation scored another Breeders’ Cup win when Tuesday overtook Peter Brant’s In Italian in the last sixteenth of a mile to win the $2 million, Grade I Filly and Mare Turf by a length.

Tuesday’s win was the third in the two-day festival for Irish champion trainer Aiden O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore.

In Italian, the winner of the Spa’s Grade I Diana for Brown, led almost every step of the way in the 1 3/16-mile race before being overtaken by Tuesday. Tuesday’s clocking of 1 minute, 51.88 seconds established a new course record for the distance.

The European Invasion continued when Godolphin’s Modern Games stormed home from the back of the 13-horse field to win the $2 million, Grade I Mile by three parts of a length. The 3-year-old colt is trained by Appleby and was ridden by Buick.

The biggest payday of the two-day festival came in the Turf Sprint when Caravel came out of trainer Brad Cox’ shed and went on to win by a half-length. The 43-1 shot paid $87.78, $30.64 and $17.68.