dr. schivel | Horse Racing Free Tips

Flightline Earns Highest Beyer Of The Year For Malibu Romp

OK, so he wasn't beating Knicks Go, Essential Quality or Medina Spirit, but in racing right now, it seems there's Flightline and then there's everybody else.

The million-dollar son of Tapit exceeded all the pre-race hyperbole, displaying beyond a doubt he was more than the flavor of the month with a memorable victory in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes, opening day headliner at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Despite a slightly slow start and bumping with second choice Dr. Schivel in the seven-furlong race, Flightline never took a deep breath, winning by 11 ½ lengths, widening as he crossed the wire, getting seven furlongs in 1:21.37.

Coupled with his first two victories by a combined margin of 26 lengths, the three-year-old bay colt has won his three starts by a combined 37 ½ lengths, a tad over 12 lengths per race.

“He came out of the race good,” said John Sadler Monday morning. Sadler conditions Flightline for Hronis Racing LLC, Siena Farm LLC, Summer Wind Equine LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing LLC.

“We're not looking at anything yet,” Sadler added, when asked about Flightline's next possible race. “We don't have any plans yet. It's too early for that,” although in a post-race TV interview he did mention the Saudi Cup and the Met Mile.

“The bigger picture point I was trying to make is that he could run in any race, but we haven't honed in on anything, obviously,” Sadler said.

“The horse is on a different level. All has to go right, but we might be looking at a historic-type horse before it's all over.

“We celebrated Christmas a day late.”

Indeed, and the celebration was further validated this morning when it became known that the freakishly good colt by Tapit had earned an astronomical 118 Beyer Speed Figure—best in America for 2021.

“It's the top Beyer of the year, surpassing the 114 posted by Flightline (Sept. 5) and Baby Yoda (Sept. 4) in separate races in September,” said Santa Anita Morning Line Maker Jon White. “Of course, Baby Yoda finished a distant second to Flightline yesterday.”

And so now, it is with great anticipation that horseplayers, not to mention racing secretaries everywhere, await Flightline's next assignment.

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Weekend Lineup: Santa Anita’s Opening Is The Day After Christmas Present For Racing Fans

The only graded stakes in North America this weekend fall on Santa Anita's traditional day after Christmas opening day, when the Arcadia, Calif., track unwraps six graded stakes on an 11-race card that gets under way at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern.

Three of the six stakes are G1: the Runhappy Malibu for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on dirt, the La Brea for 3-year-old fillies going the same distance, and the American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/4 miles on turf in a race scheduled to begin on the reopened Santa Anita downhill turf course.

New to the expansive Santa Anita betting menu is a special opening day mid-pick 4 wager offered on races five through eight and featuring a 50-cent minimum. The bet will be offered on days when 11 races are carded.

Following Sunday's opening-day program, Santa Anita will offer a special nine-race Monday card that kicks off with a 12 noon PT first post.

While Santa Anita's day after Christmas opening is the gift many horseplayers and fans have been waiting for, there is non-graded stakes action on Sunday at Laurel Park in Maryland, Florida's Gulfstream Park and Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.

Here's a brief preview of Santa Anita's opening day graded stakes:

Sunday

4:08 p.m. ET – G2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita

The fifth race on the card, the San Gabriel will see Dan Blacker-trained Hit the Road, a More Than Ready colt who earlier this year won the G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes at Santa Anita going one mile, stretch out to nine furlongs for the first time. Umberto Rispoli, a perfect three-for-three aboard Hit the Road, will be back aboard the 4-year-old colt after Florent Geroux handled him in his last four starts. Look for Michael McCarthy-trained Friar's Road to be flying late under Jose Ortiz, who traveled west to ride several horses for McCarthy on the opening day card. The Quality Road colt has yet to win a stakes but was third, beaten a head, in the G2 John Henry Turf Championship Stakes two starts back at Santa Anita.

San Gabriel entries

4:40 p.m. – San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita

G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie was not disgraced when fourth behind likely Horse of the Year Knicks Go in his first try against older horses in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 6. He's the heavy morning line favorite in the San Antonio under regular rider Flavien Prat, and trainer Doug O'Neill is removing blinkers from the Oxbow colt's equipment after they were added for the Breeders' Cup. Kiss Today Goodbye defends his San Antonio title for trainer Eric Kruljac and Bob Baffert has two runners – Eight Rings and Azul Coast – in the field of seven.

San Antonio entries

5:12 p.m. – Santa Anita Mathis Brothers Mile Stakes

With Hit the Road opting to stretch out in the San Gabriel, the Mathis Brothers Mile came up a very competitive race, with Del Mar's G1 Hollywood Derby upset winner Beyond Brilliant the 5-2 morning line favorite for trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Kent Desormeaux. Du Jour is the second choice at 3-1 on the morning line for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Flavien Prat. The Temple City colt is two-for-two over the Santa Anita turf, breaking his maiden and adding an allowance win there earlier this year. He also won the G2 American Turf Stakes on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs.

Santa Anita Mathis Brothers Mile entries

5:44 p.m. – La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita

Private Mission threw down ridiculously fast fractions before hitting the wall on the stretch turn and finishing last in the G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff going 1 1/8 miles at Del Mar. The Into Mischief filly trained by Bob Baffert showed the ability to win against good company going two turns in the G2 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita in October, but she might find the elongated seven-furlong sprint distance even more to her liking here. The 8-5 morning line favorite will be ridden by Flavien Prat. None of the other six fillies have faced as tough a competition as Private Mission has, though the other Baffert filly in the line-up, Kalypso, did win the G2 Santa Ynez over the same distance at Santa Anita last January.

La Brea entries

6:49 p.m. – Runhappy Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita

How good is Flightline? The Tapit colt earned respective Beyer Speed Figures of 105 and 114 while winning his first two starts by a combined 18 lengths – a maiden race at Santa Anita in April and a Sept. 5 allowance race at Del Mar – but this will be the first stakes test for the John Sadler runner. The $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase hasn't missed a beat in his training and gets leading West Coast rider Flavien Prat, also the regular rider of Dr. Schivel, the second choice in the morning line for the Malibu. Dr. Schivel, who lost the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint by a nose to Aloha West, always brings his “A” game, and the Mark Glatt-trained colt by Violence figures to be right in the thick of things. Rising Southern California star Juan Hernandez, who rode Dr. Schivel to a maiden victory in 2020, will be aboard. An interesting wild card is Baby Yoda, a Bill Mott-trained invader from the East who received a 114 Beyer Speed Figure for an allowance race win at Saratoga on Sept. 4 the day before Flightline won at Del Mar. He's had two disappointing runs since then but gets Jose Ortiz back aboard.

Runhappy Malibu entries

7:20 p.m. – American Oaks at Santa Anita

It's impossible to overlook Going Global's perfect four-for-four record over the Santa Anita turf course or her overall mark of seven wins in 11 starts. The five-time graded stakes winner is one of two Phil D'Amato runners in the line-up for the American Oaks, which begins midway down the hillside turf course and takes one lap around the infield oval. Michael McCarthy has four entered in the 11-horse Oaks field, none of them stakes winners but all capable of improvement. The best of his quartet might be Nicest, an Irish-bred daughter of American Pharoah who was good third in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and third in the G1 Irish Oaks a month later. She will have John Velazquez aboard for her third U.S. stakes try. Two other shippers, Chad Brown-trained Fluffy Socks, a two-time graded stakes winner, and Victoria Oliver-trained Core Values, make the American Oaks a challenging race to handicap.

American Oaks entries

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Can Flightline Handle a Dogfight in Malibu?

Brilliant 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit), among the most exciting horses in training or in recent memory, faces his toughest test to date in Sunday's GI Runhappy Malibu S. The $1-million FTSAUG buy turned in a debut for the ages when drubbing local foes by double digit lengths and earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure here in April, and after overcoming a bruised foot he put up a gaudy 114 Beyer when making similarly short work of Del Mar optional claiming foes Sept. 5. The John Sadler trainee has certainly not yet faced a field as accomplished as this one, but the runner-up from his last outing Escape Route (Hard Spun) is a consistent sort who looks poised to clear his '1X' condition earlier on the card; and fourth-finisher Positivity (Paynter) bested that runner narrowly next time out before missing by a nose in a state-bred stake last month. The knocks on Flightline are that he has been handled with kid gloves thus far–including passing on a try at the Breeders' Cup–and has certainly not battle tested to this point, but his talent is undeniable and the additional furlong of the Malibu may in fact help him if anything.

Dr. Schivel (Violence), meanwhile, has been in several dogfights already and could very well earn champion sprinter honors if he takes down the favorite here. A winner of the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity going this distance last summer, the bay scored three straight this year after being transferred to Mark Glatt, besting elders in the GI Bing Crosby S. in July and GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. in October. He seeks redemption after taking a tough nose beat in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint here Nov. 6.

It's rare for a two-for-two Bob Baffert-trained 'Rising Star' to be flying under the radar–especially one with a pedigree like Triple Tap (Tapit)–but the chestnut may in fact be doing just that. Born and raised on the same Summer Wind Farm as Flightline, the half-brother to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and full to fellow Summer Wind colorbearer and GISW Chasing Yesterday (Tapit) was a comfortable debut winner over track and trip back in March. He resurfaced on Breeders' Cup Friday Nov. 5 to take a Del Mar optional claimer from well off the pace.

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Malibu Win Could Mean Eclipse Award for Dr. Schivel

The race for 2021 champion sprinter looks like a tossup for now between Dr. Schivel (Violence) and Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), but that could change Sunday at Santa Anita.

While Jackie's Warrior is done for the year, Dr. Schivel will try to end 2021 with a victory against brilliant 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) in the GI Runhappy Malibu S., where he could pick up his second Grade I win on the year and his third stakes win overall. Jackie's Warrior ended the year with four stakes wins, but just one, the GI Allen Jerkens Memorial S., at the highest level. The two met for the only time this year in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, where Dr. Schivel was second, losing by a nose, and Jackie's Warrior finished sixth as the 1-2 favorite.

“This is a very prestigious race,” said Dr. Schivel's trainer, Mark Glatt. “We're hopeful he does very well and that will be enough for him to earn an Eclipse Award. Obviously, if he wins it will improve his chances considerably. I am told that a lot of the voters have already cast their votes or have already made up their minds. I hope not. How much this race makes a difference to the majority of the voters is kind of hard to say.”

Though he won last year's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity for trainer Luis Mendez, Dr. Schivel, a $37,000 RNA as a KEEJAN short yearling, was the forgotten member of the 3-year-old male division for much of the year. After a layoff of more than nine months and after being turned over to Glatt, he returned in June and won an allowance at Santa Anita. Glatt stuck to sprints and Dr. Schivel rewarded him with victories against older horses in the GI Bing Crosby S. and the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. A victory in the Breeders' Cup likely would have clinched year-end honors, but Dr. Schivel lost in what was one of the tightest photos in Breeders' Cup history.

“We got beat in the worst way possible but at least the horse showed up and ran his race, so we were pleased with that,” Glatt said. “The horse ran a heck of a race against a very good group of horses.”

In just about any other race against any other group of horses, a horse with Dr. Schivel's credentials would be the heavy favorite in a spot like the Malibu. But he will have to deal with Flightline, who, in his brief career, has shown that he could be a superstar and will likely be favored Sunday. A $1-million purchase as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, Flightline debuted in March with a 13 1/4-length win in a maiden race at Santa Anita. He didn't resurface until September, when he won a Del Mar allowance race by 12 3/4 lengths, earning a 114 Beyer figure. The 114 is tied with Baby Yoda (Prospective) for the fastest number handed out on the year. Baby Yoda will also run in the Malibu, but is winless in two tries since his big-figure race.

Glatt respects Flightline, but believes his rival has something to prove in what will be his stakes debut.

“He's certainly been very impressive, to say the least,” Glatt said. “He basically manhandled horses and has done things extremely easily against lesser competition. One could say that until he beats stakes caliber horses that he is a little bit unproven. Certainly, his connections are very high on the horse. They've been on the record saying he's America's horse. Unless you're the one trying to outrun him, he's been a fun horse to watch. But you never know how a horse is going to respond when looked in the eye by a horse who has comparable ability. He may very well pass that test with flying colors, but until he does it we don't know. Hopefully, at some point in the race Dr. Schivel will be looking him in the eye. If he's as good as his connections say he is I am sure he will be difficult to outrun. But that's why they run the race.”

Flavien Prat took off Dr. Schivel to ride Flightline. Juan Hernandez has picked up the mount for Glatt.

“That says a lot about what Flavien thinks of that horse,” Glatt said.

Prat also took off 'Rising Star' Triple Tap (Tapit), who is two-for-two lifetime and a half-brother to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). John Velazquez will be aboard for trainer Bob Baffert.

Timless Bounty (Elusive Hour), Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) and Team Merchants (Nyquist) complete the field for the seven-furlong race.

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