Trainer John Sadler was watching the U.S. Open on television when he was struck by words printed on the wall behind the tennis players: “Pressure is a privilege.”
Heading into next Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic with the overwhelming favorite in undefeated Flightline, the world's highest-rated horse, Sadler couldn't help but agree.
“The pressure is there, you know, because he's going to be a heavy favorite,” Sadler told media on Wednesday's Breeders' Cup teleconference. “This is the kind of pressure you want… We've got a week and a half to go, and it's one step at a time. Expectations are sky high, I understand that, but this is horse racing so we're just gonna keep even-keeled and look forward to a week from Saturday.”
Pre-entries for the 2022 World Championships were announced on Wednesday, with eight other horses potentially lining up to face the 4-year-old Flightline (Tapit).
“It's a really good field,” Sadler said. “You have the ascending 3-year-olds, Epicenter, Taiba, and the Derby winner (Rich Strike), and then those older horses that are terrific, Life Is Good and Olympiad. It's a bunch of really nice horses, and it's going to be a good race.”
Flightline's final prep for the Breeders' Cup came in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, in which he dominated by 19 1/4 lengths.
“I think you certainly have to rate his race in the Pacific Classic as one of the greatest performances any horse has ever run,” said Sadler. “He's a very good athlete, no doubt about that. As far as what's different, he's a horse that's just an exceptional horse. He's kind of like Lebron James; he's just a one-of-a-kind kind of horse.”
Overall, Flightline has won his five starts by a combined 62 ¾ lengths. Sadler has masterfully coordinated the colt's campaign through a number of setbacks, including a quarter crack before the start of last year's Del Mar meet and bone bruising in a hock earlier this year, but the trainer believes Flightline is more than ready for the challenge that awaits him at Keeneland.
“Ever since the Pacific Classic everything has gone really well,” Sadler said. “The timing of this race is closer than his last two starts, so we've been training him up for it, and everything's going really well.”
Flightline has one final work planned for Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. at Keeneland.
To say that it was a “vigorous “ gallop this morning for Flightline…an understatement.@SienaFarmKY @MoreSummerWind @woodfordracing @KostaHronis @stephrosa3 @keeneland @BreedersCup pic.twitter.com/y8SrsmD1wV
— jeff lifson (@jefflifson) October 26, 2022
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher may well have the second choice in the Classic with Life Is Good (Into Mischief), a winner of 9 of his 11 starts for earnings of over $4.3 million. The 4-year-old enters the Classic off three straight wins, including the G1 Whitney and G1 Woodward.
“(Life Is Good) is a very, very gifted horse,” Pletcher said. “It's remarkable to us how consistent he has been. He trains well every day, shows good energy and enthusiasm every morning, and all of his breezes have been outstanding.”
Pletcher said he watched Flightline's performance in the Pacific Classic on television from Saratoga, and was certainly impressed by the undefeated colt.
“He's a tremendous horse,” Pletcher summarized. “He has the ability to cruise and accelerate, and he showed that mile and a quarter is not a problem.”
As to how Life Is Good can defeat Flightline, Pletcher remained close-lipped.
“Luckily he's been very good from the gate, and he's got so much natural speed, we don't want to take anything away from him,” the trainer said. “We'll kind of play it by ear for now, look at how the track is playing and how the conditions come up… It will be an interesting jockeys' race, for sure.”
Pletcher will have another entrant in the Classic as well in 5-year-old Grade 1 winner Happy Saver (Super Saver).
“He's a super competitive horse, and he always gives us a good effort,” said Pletcher. “Obviously, the thing in his benefit would be a good pace up from where they kind of softened each other up and set things up for him.”
Life Is Good's former trainer, Bob Baffert, believes the Classic may be a much tighter race than many people seem to believe.
“There's two super horses,” Baffert told the Daily Racing Form. “Life Is Good, they quit talking about him. He's a top-caliber horse, I had him and I know. Believe me, there's not a lot separating those two top horses and that's why it's going to be a great Classic.”
Baffert will send out his own entrant in the Classic, as well, with Pennsylvania Derby winner Taiba (Gun Runner).
“He needs to raise it up a notch,” Baffert admitted. “You don't know what's going to happen with those other two horses. I watched Flightline breeze here, I don't see a chink in the armor. He looked fabulous.”
Doug O'Neill, trainer of Classic hopeful Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), agreed.
“If Flightline shows up like the Flightline we've seen so far, everyone's running for second,” O'Neill told DRF.
The 4-year-old Hot Rod Charlie has proven he loves a fight, especially after the ding-dong battle with fellow Classic pre-entrant and Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike last out in the G2 Lukas Classic. O'Neill argued that with a lifetime record of 5-5-4 from 18 starts, Hot Rod Charlie shouldn't be thrown out of the mix.
“He's a funny horse, he wants to fight,” O'Neill continued. “If everything gets kind of easy the wire sometimes comes up before the fight begins. With Flightline and Life Is Good, I'm not sure you want to go right at them. Still, it doesn't mean you can't get involved in some sort of fight at some point.”
Epicenter's trainer, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, is also ready to put his 3-year-old son of Not This Time up against the undefeated Flightline. Epicenter will enter the Classic starting gate off two wins in a row, the G2 Jim Dandy and the G1 Travers.
“I'm all for it,” he told DRF. “We'll be ready to run as fast as we can run.”
The presence of Flightline also influenced the decision of Rich Strike's trainer, Eric Reed.
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Want to support our journalism while accessing bonus behind-the-scenes content, Q&As, and more? Subscribe to our Patreon stream.“The decision would be easier if the Breeders' Cup was at Churchill Downs and there wasn't a Flightline,” the trainer told Churchill Downs' media team last week. “And it is not only Flightline, but there is Life Is Good and Olympiad and Epicenter.”
Epicenter was the horse Rich Strike (Keen Ice) ran down in the final sixteenth of a mile in the Kentucky Derby and a horse he likely would have to beat again to possibly claim the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male.
“I know Rich Strike is a better horse than he was at the Derby, and (Epicenter) is, too,” Reed said. “And I would have to beat him again and not just by a nose (to earn the championship).”
Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who will saddle Olympiad (Speightstown) in the Classic, has similar feelings about Flightline.
“I have the greatest respect for him,” Mott said during Wednesday's teleconference. “I know he's very talented, I don't think anybody is really going to question that… I think he won the Pacific Classic in an absolute gallop, like he did it easily, though it didn't seem like some of the horses in behind him ran their best races, because there were some useful horses in behind him.
“I'm just anxious to see the race, he's gonna have to face the best group of horses he's faced so far. That's what it's all about.”
Olympiad will come into the Classic off a win in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, a rebound from his penultimate start when fourth in the G1 Whitney behind Life Is Good, Happy Saver, and Hot Rod Charlie, respectively.
“He was just a little dull that day, for no real reason other than maybe the heat,” Mott suggested.
Above all, Mott said, he's looking forward to watching the Classic as a fan.
“(Flightline) will have to be good on the day, because I think this is a very competitive Classic,” said Mott. “It's a great spectator's race. Being a racing fan, and somebody who likes to watch really good horses, I'm excited. I'm like everybody else, though I'm lucky enough to have a horse in there, but I'm anxious to see what happens.”
Asked about where Flightline stands in regard to the all-time greats of the sport, Mott wasn't quite ready to name the rising star among them.
“Whether it be human or equine, I think the true test of the champion is the test of time,” Mott said. “When you look at the great horses of our past, like Spectacular Bid, Forego, Kelso, those horses raced several seasons. There's always been in-between horses that are extremely talented but didn't go on and have a career. It's nice when you see a potentially great horse race for more than one season, because the fans start to become familiar with them. That's what our sport needs, it needs a Spectacular Bid, a Cigar, a Secretariat; it brings people out to the races.”
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