breeders' cup classic | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Cup Classic Six-Furlong Time Adjusted

Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic won by Flightline (Tapit) has officially had its six-furlong split adjusted to a corrected time of 1:09.27 after the sensor was tripped early by an outrider heading to assist Epicenter (Not This Time), who was pulled up on the Keeneland backstretch with a condylar fracture to his right front.

The official statement, jointly released by Equibase and Keeneland, reads as follows:

During the running of the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 5, 2022, at Keeneland, the timing eye for the three-quarter fraction was inadvertently tripped by an outrider as he was making his way to tend to pulled-up Epicenter. A back-up time of 1:09.62 was produced on race day for that fraction. As per Equibase policy, the fractional time underwent comprehensive video review to verify its accuracy. After this review, it was determined that the three-quarter fractional time for the Classic was 1:09.27. No other times were affected, including the final time of 2:00.05.

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Please Don’t Retire This Horse

“We need a hero,” owner Kosta Hronis said, overcome with emotion standing in the winner's circle following the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, where Flightline (Tapit) ran one of the greatest races in the long history of the sport.

“We need a champion,” he continued. “We need an undefeated horse. Someone who can go out and do this and that's Flightline.”

In those four short sentences Hronis captured the moment, the sentiment and all the reasons why Flightline needs to be brought back for a 2023 campaign. It's because the sport and everyone who loves it needs and deserves more of the magic that this very special horse delivers every time. To the owners, please put horse racing first and your bank accounts second and give the game what would be nothing less than a precious and cherished gift. Please.

Flightline can make a staggering amount next year as a stallion, far more than he ever could make on the racetrack. His five owners all say they are racing fans first, but they are also businesspeople and racing Flightline next year is just not economically practical. The insurance policy alone that they would have to take out would cost millions. He probably will be retired.

I'm trying not to be naive.

But neither will I give up hope.

The NBC cameras closed in on another owner, Terry Finley, after the race and there was a river of tears rushing down his cheeks. He was experiencing what we all hope to experience in our lives, a feeling of pure exhilaration, pure joy. I am sure the other owners, Hronis, Bill Farish, Jane Lyon and Anthony Manganaro all felt the same way. Perhaps other than the birth of a child, there is nothing else in life that can match this. It is indeed priceless.

Money is nice. Money is important. But Finley is never going to weep for joy after viewing the balance in his bank account. That feeling, those tears, what Terry Finley experienced Saturday, can be replicated maybe four or five times next year with what would no doubt be four or five more sensational performances. Does he or any of the other owners really want to let that go?

I wouldn't be saying that if this weren't a once-in-a-lifetime horse. I wouldn't have said that even with American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) or Justify (Scat Daddy). They were wonderful horses, Triple Crown winners, but Flightine has gone to a place where those horses never went. He doesn't live up to the hype. He smashes it. He makes the impossible seem ordinary.

After he won the GI Pacific Classic by 19 1/4 lengths it seemed Flightline could never surpass that performance. But he did. If ever he was going to be in a fight, this was it. The Classic was loaded and the seven opponents presented a far more difficult challenge than the one he faced out at Del Mar. But it was not a fight. It wasn't even a skirmish. Under his passenger, Flavien Prat, he couldn't have been more dominant. Flightline won by

8 1/4 lengths, turning the final two furlongs into a one-horse race. Once again, Prat never had to shift out of cruise control.

“How do you describe greatness?” trainer John Sadler said. “This is a rare horse. It happens every 20 or 30 years. One of the best American racehorses we've seen in a long, long time. And I'm talking back to Secretariat, Seattle Slew. You go through the list.”

It's hard to compare Flightline to Secretariat because they are horses from two very different eras and Flightline has raced only six times. But Secretariat, it should be remembered, lost twice after his other-worldly performance in the 1973 GI Belmont S. and none of his races after the Belmont quite matched what he did that day when he redefined greatness in the Thoroughbred. Flightline somehow seems to get better with every race.

Who is the greatest ever, Flightline or Secretariat? Let's just say this: they both belong in the conversation.

This sport can get you down. There have been the drug scandals with Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis and the rest. You have far too many groups and individuals trying to submarine the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority. The safety and well-being of the animal, both during and after their careers, remains a constant worry. The struggle to get mainstream attention for the game seems like a never-ending, losing battle. On too many days at too many racetracks the grandstands are empty.

But Saturday, it was like those problems had vanished. In the moment, this was indeed the greatest game that there is and we all remembered why we fell in love with it in the first place. Thank you, Flightline.

“This is really good for the business,” Finley said.

Exactly.

So bring him back. While you're at it, plan out a campaign that doesn't include trips to the Middle East. If this isn't going to be about the money then don't make it about money. Make 2023 a celebration and a celebration of American racing. Put the fans first. Run in the GI Pegasus World Cup, the GI Santa Anita H. Come back in the Pacific Classic. End the year back at Santa Anita in the Classic and let's see if he can win this time by a dozen lengths or more.

Then cash in and send him off to stud.

To ask the connections to run him next year is asking a lot. I understand that. It's just that I don't want to see this end and neither should his owners.

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Flightline Soars in Classic For the Ages

LEXINGTON, KY – You can add horse of a lifetime to the superlatives now, too.

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) ran to his already unworldly reputation, and, dare we say, even more, with a spectacular 8 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland. Olympiad (Speightstown) and fellow 'Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) filled out the minors.

“A great win today. He just ran beautiful; just like we thought he could,” said winning trainer John Sadler, who previously put to bed an 0-for-44 mark at the Championships with Accelerate's win in the 2018 Classic.

“This is one of the greatest horses of all time.”

Just as it figured on paper, the 2-5 favorite chased from second as the classy returning GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) sped through punishing fractions of :22.55 and :45.47.

With the field down to seven midway through the backstretch run as top 3-year-old Epicenter (Not This Time) went wrong and was pulled up by Joel Rosario–more to come on the GI Runhappy Travers S. winner–the top two were in a race of their own as Life Is Good let it out a notch to lead by three lengths entering the far turn.

If you thought the place was already rocking from the sustained 20-plus mph winds throughout the day, you hadn't seen nothing yet.

Flightline, still on cruise control, made his move beneath Flavien Prat approaching the quarter pole and the crowd of 45,973 absolutely lost it. Life Is Good, out in the three path with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, had no response as they straightened, and it was a sight to see from there.

Moving every bit as beautifully as 'Grand Slam' winner American Pharoah was down this same stretch in this race seven years ago, Flightline glided under the line all by himself while stopping the timer for 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.05, just a tick off the track record. Flightline was .02 of a second faster than American Pharoah's Classic.

“I felt like I was in control the whole race,” Prat said after piloting home his fourth winner at the Championships. “Once I broke well and was where I wanted to be, I was in control. You never know what to expect because it's horse racing. Sometimes it doesn't happen the way you think it will. I can't thank John Sadler and [assistant trainer and exercise rider] Juan Leyva enough.”

Campaigned in partnership by the all-star line-up of Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, breeder Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, the $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling entered the Classic with a Herculean five-for-five record. The combined winning margin of those races was an incredible 62 3/4 lengths.

Flightline's resume was previously headed by a trio of runaway victories in the GI Runhappy Malibu S., GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. and a record-setting 19 1/4-length romp while making his two-turn debut in the GI TVG Pacific Classic S. The latter earned him an astronomic 126 Beyer Speed Figure and a negative 8 1/2 from Thoro-Graph, the fastest number the latter has ever given.

“He's been brilliant,” Sadler said. “Brilliant is his normal. He didn't disappoint. He never has. We're just really thrilled.”

Now, for the question on everyone's mind. Will we see Flightline back for a 5-year-old campaign? Neither co-owner Kosta Hronis or Sadler was quite ready to provide an answer in the post-race press conference.

“The team behind Flightline, I've said this before and I'm going to say it again in front of the world, as blessed as the partnership is to be all together as the partners, to have a horse like Flightline in our lifetime is just unbelievable and great,” Hronis said.

“We're in a partnership. We're very respectful people and we respect the partnership. We'll all get together and discuss it at a later time and decide. We'll always do what's best by the horse. I can promise you that.”

Sadler concluded, “I'll be there in the morning to check him out. And then we'll let him tell us what the best thing is.”

Epicenter Update…

Epicenter was pulled up after sustaining an injury to his right forelimb and was attended to by KHRC Chief Veterinarian Dr. Nick Smith. He walked onto the equine ambulance and was transported to nearby Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. After further evaluation by Dr. Larry Bramlage and his counterparts, Epicenter was found to have sustained a repairable displaced condylar fracture. He will undergo surgery Sunday morning.

Pedigree Notes…

Future Lane's End stallion Flightline becomes the seventh Breeders' Cup winner and first in the Classic for leading sire Tapit. Indian Charlie is also the broodmare sire of Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and champion sprinter Mitole and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Dayoutoftheoffice.

Breeder Jane Lyon bought Flightline's dam Feathered for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November sale. Feathered produced a 2-year-old full-brother to Flightline named Olivier, who RNA'd for $390,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Lyon is planning on racing him in partnership.

The 10-year-old mare also has a yearling colt by Curlin named Eagles Flight, a filly foaled May 17 by Into Mischief, and has been bred back to Tapit.

Flightline hails from a deep Phipps family. His third dam is MGISW Finder's Fee (Storm Cat), a daughter of GISW Fantastic Find (Mr. Prospector).

Saturday, Keeneland
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC-GI, $5,340,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:00.05, ft.
1–FLIGHTLINE, 126, c, 4, by Tapit
                1st Dam: Feathered (GSW & MGISP, $577,474), by Indian Charlie
                2nd Dam: Receipt, by Dynaformer
                3rd Dam: Finder's Fee, by Storm Cat
'TDN Rising Star'. ($1,000,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Hronis
Racing LLC, Siena Farm LLC, Summer Wind Equine LLC, West
Point Thoroughbreds & Woodford Racing, LLC; B-Summer
Wind Equine LLC (KY); T-John W. Sadler; J-Flavien Prat.
$3,120,000. Lifetime Record: 6-6-0-0, $4,514,800. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Olympiad, 126, c, 4, Speightstown–Tokyo Time, by
Medaglia d'Oro. ($700,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview
Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC & LNJ Foxwoods; B-Emory A.
Hamilton (KY); T-William I. Mott. $1,020,000.
3–Taiba, 122, c, 3, Gun Runner–Needmore Flattery, by Flatter.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($140,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $1,700,000 2yo
'21 FTFMAR). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Bruce C Ryan
(KY); T-Bob Baffert. $540,000.
Margins: 8 1/4, HF, 2HF. Odds: 0.44, 26.88, 8.26.
Also Ran: Rich Strike, Life Is Good, Hot Rod Charlie, Happy Saver, Epicenter.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Breeders’ Cup Weekend Ready for Take-Off!

LEXINGTON, KY – Led by unbeaten sensation Flightline (Tapit), the 39th Breeders' Cup World Championships–consisting of 14 races with purses and awards totaling more than $31 million– return to Keeneland for a third time with a two-day run beginning Friday.

Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s–does it get any better than that?–are expected for the 'Future Stars Friday' program. Cave Rock (Arrogate) will put his unbeaten mark on the line for Bob Baffert in the Juvenile while Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke) headlines a wide-open renewal of the Juvenile Fillies. There will also be a trio of Breeders' Cup grass races for 2-year-olds with Godolphin's European invader Silver Knott (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) leading the way in the featured Juvenile Turf.

Some of the top storylines for Saturday's absolutely stacked program–there's currently a 40% chance of afternoon showers in the forecast–include: Flightline's quest for glory in the $6-million Classic; a showdown between Todd Pletcher-trained stablemates Malathaat (Curlin) and Nest (Curlin) in the Distaff; War Like Goddess (English Channel) taking on the boys in the Turf; the unexpected return of the talented Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) off a 14-month layoff in the Mile; and Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) shooting for a third win at the Championships in the Turf Sprint.

The Breeders' Cup will be televised live domestically on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, and FanDuel TV.

For wall-to-wall coverage of all 14 Championship races, click here for Friday's preview edition and click here for Saturday's preview edition.

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