Easy one. My favorite moment was in February when Lane's End Farm called and said that Flightline was enjoying his new career as a stallion.

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“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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The assistant trainer to John Sadler and former Breeders' Cup winning-jockey is the regular morning partner of unbeaten sensation and 3-5 Classic morning-line favorite Flightline (Tapit). The highest-rated racehorse in the world has won his first five starts by an astounding combined margin of 62 3/4 lengths, led by a jaw-dropping 19 1/4-length win while making his two-turn debut in the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Getting the monster that is Flightline to harness some of that brilliant early speed, however, has been another story.

“With him, it's always like, 'How do you ride a hurricane?'” Sadler said in these pages ahead of Flightline's spectacular GI Met Mile win at Belmont Park in June. “Juan's been working with him and getting him to relax.”

Well, how exactly does Leyva do it?

“In the beginning, he was always very keen to do more than what was wanted from him,” Leyva said. “It's just been a work in progress with him every day trying to get him to settle down. If it were up to him, he'd go out there and just breeze every day.”

Longtime Sadler client and Flightline co-owner Kosta Hronis echoes those same sentiments.

“He wanted to go full blast and run as hard as he could all of the time,” said Hronis, who campaigns Flightline along with Siena Farm, breeder Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing.

“I was watching the Pacific Classic replay on TVG and they were showing a Flightline work earlier in the year where he's just dragging Juan around the racetrack. Juan looks like he has both feet on the brakes. But then you see his last workout before the Pacific Classic and he's turned Flightline into such a relaxed and professional horse to where he's push-button now. It's a blessing that Juan is getting some recognition for what he's done. Not only for Flightline, but for the barn in general. He's done a great job.”

With a $1-million pricetag as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling and a growing reputation that he could back it up coming off the farm–albeit a bit belatedly after suffering a nasty wound to his hind end as a youngster–the expectations were always sky high for Flightline upon joining the Sadler barn in December of his 2-year-old season.

“The first day that I sat on him, I thought, 'Wow, what an amazing animal,'” Leyva said. “Just the way he moves is so different from other horses. And I've been at this for quite a while now, so I draw from experience of being on some good horses in the past. And he was just something that I had never experienced.”

Born in Mexico and raised in Riverside, California, Leyva, like so many, was introduced to the sport by his father. The 38-year-old didn't immediately envision racing as a potential career path though.

“I liked horses and I liked riding them, but I didn't think that I would be doing what I'm doing now,” Leyva said. “When I was very young, my dad had some Quarter Horses and he would match race them. In those kind of races, you put up your own money. He didn't really trust the jockeys, so he told me, 'You're gonna be the jockey.'”

He continued, “I did it to please him, but when I won my first match race, it was just such an exhilarating feeling of joy and triumph that the bug just bit me. Once I got old enough, I quit school and focused all my energy on the horses.”

Still just in his late teenage years, Leyva began making the rounds on the backstretch at Santa Anita and was eager to show off his handywork from riding in the match races for his old man.

“My agent takes me to John's barn to work a horse,” Leyva said. “And me being a young kid, I wanted to show John that I could switch sticks–hit right, hit left. So, that's exactly what I did.”

As you can imagine, this did not go over well with the boss.

“I come back and John says, 'What the heck were you doing! We don't hit our horses in the mornings!' Leyva said. “And at that point, I thought I blew my chance at Santa Anita.”

He didn't. Sadler gave Leyva another chance the following morning–he kept the stick in his back pocket this time, thankfully–and a friendship was beginning to take shape. Leyva launched his career as a jockey in 2000, and, before relocating to South Florida, Sadler offered him a job to work as an assistant. He declined. At least for the time being.

“I wanted to ride races, I wanted to pursue my dream,” Leyva said. “I left, but through it all, we always stayed in contact. He always checked up on me.”

Leyva celebrated his biggest victory aboard 20-1 Musical Romance–ironically over the Sadler-trained Switch–in the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. He previously experienced the thrill of riding on the first Saturday in May in Louisville, piloting Storm in May to an unplaced finish in the 2007 GI Kentucky Derby. “I thought I had reached the top with Musical Romance, but I don't think I had even seen it until now with this horse [Flightline],” Leyva said.

Sadler once again “checked up” on Leyva a year or two following his victory at the Championships. He wasn't ready to hang up the reins just yet though.

“At the time, I still had some business and I was doing OK,” Leyva said. “I told him that I didn't want to quit riding yet. I was still enjoying it.”

Battling weight issues and suffering from a decline in business following the retirement of Musical Romance and Storm in May's trainer Bill Kaplan, Leyva decided to call it quits in 2017. In all, Leyva won 803 races for a total of $22,942,868 in earnings. Trainer David Fawkes was the first to offer him a job as an assistant in South Florida, but Leyva had other ideas.

“After talking it over with my wife, I called John and said, 'I'm ready to come home,'” Leyva said.

Immediately thrown into the deep end, Leyva was put in charge of Sadler's 20-horse string at Los Alamitos. Not exactly what he had in mind when agreeing to return to the West Coast to serve as his assistant.

“I basically got a crash course in being a trainer,” Leyva said. “I went from riding races the past week to having 20 horses and trying to manage a set list, riders and grooms, etc. Little by little, I started doing my thing. But I didn't come to California to be at Los Al. I came to California to learn how to train horses from John.”

Fast forward six months and school was officially in session at the 'Great Race Place.'

“When he brought me to Santa Anita, it was like going from elementary school to high school–now you're in with the big dogs,” Leyva said with a laugh.

Leyva rode champion Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) ahead of his win in the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which emphatically put an end to Sadler's well-documented 0-for-44 winless mark at the Championships. Leyva also began working with Sadler-trained standouts such as Hronis Racing's MGSW Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags) and Woodford Racing's MGSW and GI Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Catapult (Kitten's Joy).

“I was very lucky that from the beginning when I went to Santa Anita, John had a lot of nice horses,” Leyva said. “I was able to work alongside them and really recognize what it takes to get to those kind of big races.

“Once I got to Santa Anita, that's where I really started soaking everything in that John was doing. And the great thing about John is that when we're doing something with the horses, he always takes time to explain to me why we're doing things. He's a very good teacher.”

As Flightline puts his unblemished record on the line in Saturday's $6-million centerpiece at Keeneland, Hronis summed it up best.

“Juan's been a great student of John's,” Hronis said. “And Flightline has been a great student of Juan's.”

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“Just like with Stellar Wind (Curlin), which we left on the track an extra year, just like with Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), which worked out great after we decided to bring him back for another year, our philosophy has always been that they were born to be race horses,” Hronis said, referring to two former stars that ran for Hronis Racing LLC. “Let's let them do what they want to do as long as they want to do it. I can't really give you a percentage when it comes to his running next year. You'd have to ask Flightline. But I really believe as long as he is healthy and happy with what he is doing and he still wants to go to the racetrack every day and be a part of this and he still wants to run the way he has been running, then I think there is a great possibility that we will see him next year as 5-year-old.”

Hronis added: “We're going to the Breeders' Cup, we'll come out of the race, see how we do and just go to the next step. I race horses, that's what I like to do. That is Hronis Racing. When it comes to their after-racing careers, we're not heavily into that.”

The situation is complicated by the fact that Hronis Racing LLC is one of just five entities that own a part of the horse. The others are Siena Farm LLC, Summer Wind Equine LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, LLC. Hronis said that while he wants to see Flightline race next year, he will listen to the opinions Bill Farish of Woodford Racing and Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Farm. Lyon is also the breeder of Flightline.

“As far as me personally, I will defer to Bill Farish and Jane Lyon because they are the absolute experts when it comes to this,” he said. “I still consider myself to be kind of a newcomer. I've only been in the sport for 10, 11 years. As far as that second career for a horse, it's not something we are heavily involved in. As far as what happens on the racetrack, I defer to John Sadler. He is the man and he makes the decisions. As far as his second career, I will defer to Jane and Bill and let them call the shots and I will follow along. I will be a good partner.”

Yet, Hronis made it clear which way he is rooting.

“We'll keep our fingers crossed for Flightline to continue his career and to continue to be as successful as he has been,” he said. “He's good for horse racing and that's good for every owner in the country. I believe (Flightline running next year) might be the shot in the arm we need. So I really hope that we can continue this.”

Hronis also made a point of commending trainer John Sadler and exercise rider and assistant trainer Juan Leyva for the work they have done with Flightline. After his sensational 19 1/4-length win the in GI TVG Pacific Classic, Flightline is 5-for-5 lifetime and has never been challenged.

“John has done a great job with him in between races teaching him,” he said. “Him and Juan Leyva constantly teach him how to be a race horse and taught him how to go from six furlongs to a mile-and-a-quarter. I have to give them all the credit. The plan was laid out quite a long time ago and it has come to fruition. We have a great trainer. I have said this a few times: As blessed as we are to have Flightline, I think Flightline is really blessed to have John Sadler. He took his time, he didn't rush him and he taught him how to be a race horse.”

Elsewhere on the show–which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock–Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and guest host Randy Moss recapped closing weekend at Saratoga and, in the Weekend Preview presented by Three Chimneys, took a look at stellar race cards at Kentucky Downs and Del Mar.

Click here to watch the show. 

Click here for the audio version.

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Never challenged at any point, Flightline fairly jogged home in a manner that reminded veteran players of some of the best sprinters that have ever graced the Santa Anita main track.  With Prat sitting dead still turning for home, the colt actually seemed to hit his best stride on the gallop out into the clubhouse turn.

“I was in cruise control the whole race, galloping freely,” said Prat. “He was quite impressive. I wanted to get a good position and get myself into the race. My idea was to get out there running and see what happened. He has been brilliant so far. He really has been quite amazing.”

A 12 ¾-length allowance winner going six furlongs on Sept. 5 at Del Mar, Flightline, a bay colt by Tapit, was off at 2-5 in a field of seven sophomores and paid $2.80, $2.40 and $2.20.

“I've been stressing the last 20, 30 or 40 days getting ready for today,” said Sadler. “The next race is up to the horse.  We have to be true to the horse.  We will chart the course from there.  This horse is so brilliant.  This is not an ordinary horse, this is a very special horse.  We want to do right by the horse and all other things will fall into place.  He was late getting here.  He had a foot bruise at Del Mar, so we backed off.  After Flavien (Prat) got off him the last time, he said this horse can go further.  He'll go a distance the next time. There is a lot of pressure on you, but it is the pressure you want. It's like the high school coach for LeBron. You know you have something special and he is much the best.  This horse is there.  You just don't want to screw it up.”

Owned by Hronis Racing, LLC, Siena Farm LLC, Summer Wind Equine, LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing LLC, Flightline, who is out of the Indian Charlie mare Feathered, picked up $180,000 for the win, increasing his earnings to $259,800.

“It's always great to see a great racehorse stay on the racetrack and run as long as he can,” said co-owner Kosta Hronis. “We hope we can see Flightline put up a terrific year.”

“We hoped to win this, but to do this against this kind of field, this was the real class test for him and I think he answered it the way we thought he would.” said Woodford Racing's Bill Farish.

West Point's Terry Finley added that “this is a very special horse and I'd just like to say thank you to John Sadler and the team and to David Ingordo who picked this horse out, and Bill Farish who sold the horse, and Jane Lyon who bred the horse.”

Flightline was bred in Kentucky by Lyon's Summer Wind Equine.

In a separate race, Baby Yoda, an attentive third to the top of the lane, outfinished Stilleto Boy by a length for the place.  Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Baby Yoda was off at 16-1 and paid $8.40 and $4.60.

“If Flightline isn't there, I win. He's a freak,” said Ortiz.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Stilleto Boy finished 6 ¼ lengths clear of Triple Tap and paid $4.00 to show while off at 19-1.

Fractions on the race, all set by the winner, were 22.01, 44.48 and 1:08.72.

Run as the 10^th race on an 11-race opening day card, the Runhappy Malibu was one of six stakes on the program.

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Pacesetter Tizamagician – one of two runners for trainer Richard Mandella – finished second under leading rider Flavien Prat, 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner, with Todd Pletcher-trained East Coast invader Dr Post rallying to be third  under Joel Rosario in the field of nine older runners. Sheriff Brown was fourth, followed by Independence Hall, 2-1 favorite Express Train, 5-2 second choice Royal Ship, Cupid's Claws and Magic on Tap.

Tripoli, a 4-year-old colt by Kitten's Joy out of Love Train, by Tapit, covered 1 1/4 miles on a fast track in 2:02.37. He paid $15 for his fourth win in 14 starts and first added-money victory.

The Pacific Classic is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series Win and You're In race, giving the winner automatic, fees-paid entry into the Breeders' Cup Classic, to be held at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

Sadler saddled his first Pacific Classic winner, Accelerate, in 2018, and won the 2019 edition with Higher Power. Both were owned by Kosta and Pete Hronis in the name of their Hronis Racing.

“It feels great to win it again, and you've got to give all the credit to the barn,” said Kosta Hronis. “Tiago rode a great race. It's the only race he rode today because he wanted to focus on it. This horse has matured and just keeps coming along and today he proved himself. We didn't know if he could go a mile and a quarter, but today we found out.”

The victory was the first in a North American Grade 1 race for Pereira, a 44-year-old native of Brazil who came to the U.S. in 2014. Winner of more than 2,000 races prior to his arrival in the U.S., his biggest win came in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in 2010 aboard Gloria De Campeao.

“(Trainer) John (Sadler) told me before the race to be careful, because there were a lot of runners who had a similar style of running, Pareira said. “So, I was okay running right behind the leaders.  When it was time to run, I had plenty of horse.  But once we got in front, he started looking around, waiting on other horses.  I looked around and knew we were not going to get caught.  This was my only mount today, so I was really focused.  I am so happy.”

A $450,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate, Tripoli raced on the turf for his first 11 starts, winning a maiden race at Del Mar last August and adding a Santa Anita allowance victory in May of this year.

Sadler put the colt on dirt for the first time in June at Santa Anita and Tripoli responded with a half-length victory going 1 1/16 miles. He ran a close second to Express Train last out in the G2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, beaten just a half length.

In the Pacific Classic, Tripoli tracked Tizamagician from the outset, following the Tiznow colt through fractions of :23.52, :46.98 and 1:11.73 for the first six furlongs. Independence Hall applied some pressure to Tizamagician, setting up a perfect trip to the eventual winner. Pereira shifted Tripoli to the outside into the far turn, engaged the front runner at the quarter pole after a mile in 1:36.88, then took command with a furlong to run.

“He looked good all the way,” said Sadler. “He broke on his feet so (jockey Tiago Pereira) was able to tuck him in there and he looked comfortable all the way around. When (Independence Hall) started to slow up we were in a good spot. He had a perfect trip, give the rider a lot of credit. He rode him perfectly.”

Tizamagician was 4 1/2 lengths clear of Dr Post, who came to the Pacific Classic of a come-from-behind victory in the G3 Monmouth Cup at Monmouth Park on July 18 in what some thought was a scouting mission for the Breeders' Cup Classic by Pletcher. The Quality Road colt had just won horse beaten for the opening mile of the Pacific Classic and closed well in the stretch to be third.

“Yeah, he ran a strange race today,” Rosario said of Dr Post. “He kind of lost interest on the backstretch, so I thought I had no horse.  But when I wheeled him outside, he gave me a strong finish.  I don't know how to explain it.”

Neither of the two favorites, Express Train or Royal Ship, offered a serious challenge.

Buoyed by a Pick 6 mandatory payout that included nearly $1.9 million carried over into a jackpot and drew $8,876,771 in new wagers on Saturday, Del Mar smashed its all-time, non-Breeders' Cup day handle record. A total of $36,005,613 was bet at Del Mar or on the 11-race card via simulcasting, bettering the old mar of $25,870,431 by more than $10 million. Attendance was 12,655.

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“I've had fun on the racing side and decided to dip a toe in the stallion market,” said Levings. “New York has a strong program and has shown that stallions from the Empire State can have a bright future.”

Added Rockridge's Lere Visagie, “A Grade I-winning son of Scat Daddy is a great complement to the New York stallion market and a perfect fit for our program.”

Currently being syndicated, the millionaire will stand for $7,500 LFSN in his first year. The stallion will remain in Kentucky through the end of the Keeneland September Sale. For more information visit www.rockridgestud.com.

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Off as the 9-2 second-choice in the GI Kentucky Derby following a jaw-dropping, front-running tally in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at third asking, the dark bay's race was over well before his well-documented trouble at the start that day, per co-owner Kosta Hronis.

“I think he showed a lot of immaturity,” Hronis said. “The walkover, I'm not sure how kind he was about that and all those people on the racetrack with him. I don't think he was happy then and he wasn't happy in the paddock getting his saddle on, either. He just wasn't a happy camper. It's not his fault. He had three races. It proves that old adage about needing to run as a 2-year-old to win the Derby. I can see why they say that now. His immaturity definitely came to the surface in those couple of hours before the race.”

Off a step slowly from post 15 in the Derby, jockey Joel Rosario briefly lost his right iron aboard the Hronis Racing and Michael Talla colorbearer after getting bounced around between rivals at the start. From there, it didn't get all that much better. In the end, Rock Your World reported home a disappointing 17th, beaten 24 1/2 lengths.

“He didn't break out of the gate,” Hronis said. “And they blamed the horses for bumping us, but you know what? I blame us. The horse didn't break. I knew when he got that third bump on the first turn he was done at that point. Those things happen, it's horse racing.”

Hronis Inc., a family-run business based in California's San Joaquin Valley, has been raising table grapes since 1945. Launched in 2010 by brothers Kosta and Pete, Hronis Racing quickly reached the top of the sport with 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and champion older male Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) and was also recognized as outstanding owner at that year's Eclipse Awards.

Other GISWs campaigned by Hronis Racing include: Stellar Wind (Curlin), Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro), Hard Aces (Hard Spun), Lady of Shamrock (Scat Daddy), Gift Box (Twirling Candy), et al. Having a first runner on the Triple Crown trail, however, has been a different ball game for the operation currently boasting approximately 60 head in training.

“We've won a Breeders' Cup Classic, and, to me, that's the pinnacle of horse racing,” Hronis said. “But to be in the Kentucky Derby, that's really an honor. We really feel privileged to be a part of these special days. If anything, it's made me thirsty to try to get back. I don't think I had that before. But now that we've been there and experienced it, I'm ready for another Derby. I just haven't had Triple Crown fever up until now.”

Like his owner, the Belmont's potential controlling speed, ahem, is coming into the Big Apple hot. Produced by a MSW & MGISP daughter of 2003 Belmont hero Empire Maker, Rock Your World fired a five-furlong bullet in :58 2/5 (1/34) at John Sadler's Santa Anita base May 28.

“Now that he's been through that once–he got to come back home and take a breath–he's worked really well,” Hronis said. “Let's just hope that he breaks out of the gate and gives himself a chance. The 1 1/2 miles [of the Belmont] seems to be right up his alley. We're going in very optimistic that he's going to run good race.”

A stud deal to stand Rock Your World at Spendthrift Farm at the conclusion of his racing career was previously inked prior to the Kentucky Derby.

“They're born to be racehorses and we'd like that to continue as long as they want do that,” Hronis said. “Horses do let you know. I love Rock Your World, and as long as he's happy and competing well, we've all agreed that's what we want to do. And Spendthrift, I thank them. They reached out and took a chance on him and I'm hoping it pays big dividends for them.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally and his wife Deborah, Rock Your World brought $650,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Partnering up to go after some flashier offerings was a new approach employed by the Hronis family in 2019.

“This was an expensive horse,” Hronis said. “We had our eye on a few expensive horses, so instead of just tackling it by ourselves and picking one, we did three partnerships with some yearlings that were a little bit pricey. It lessens the risk. It's kind of like the stock market. You don't want all your stock in one thing. It's the first time that we've done that and I'm not sure if we'll do anything like that in the future again. It was a good idea to minimize our exposure on these really fancy horses. It's becoming a popular thing now, you see it more and more.”

In addition to Rock Your World, another one of those “fancy horses” posted one of the more impressive debut victories in recent memory at Santa Anita in late April. Flightline (Tapit) earned a gaudy 105 Beyer Speed Figure–the second highest on the year among sophomores–in a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star' performance, romping by 13 1/4 lengths. The $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga buy is campaigned in partnership along with Siena Farm LLC, breeder Summer Wind Equine and West Point Thoroughbreds.

“We're just trying to be really cautious with him because that may be the most talented horse that we've ever had in our barn,” Hronis said. “He is a special special horse.”

Flightline has yet to return the worktab, but remains in light training with Sadler at Santa Anita.

“I would've loved for him to come with Rock and run in the [GI] Woody Stephens [S. on the Belmont undercard],” Hronis said. “After his maiden win, that's what we were talking about. Then he told us, 'No.' We just have to keep everything spaced out for him. I'm sure when he's ready, we'll find a nice race for him. I'm honored to be partnered with that group.”

Rock Your World still didn't make the cross country trip from California alone. Hronis and Sadler will also be represented during this week's Belmont S. festival with GI Churchill Downs S. winner Flagstaff (Speightstown) in Friday's GII True North S. The duo also teamed up to capture the 2019 renewal with Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags).

“My daughter worked for NBC in New York for about four years, so we did experience the city a few times,” Hronis concluded. “It's a beautiful city. Being a California boy that lives out in the country, the big city is really not something we're used to. We live out on a ranch. I don't have a neighbor for two miles and that neighbor is my brother! I've never been there before on Belmont day. You see that lineup of races and they're all so historic. We're really looking forward to it.”

The post Rock Your World Reloads for Belmont appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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In one of the most impressive debuts turned in by a 3-year-old colt in years, 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) not only won Saturday's maiden special weight at Santa Anita by 13 1/4 lengths, he earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure (video). Based on the numbers, that makes him faster than any of the 20 horses lining up for the Derby. His stablemate, Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), earned a 100 Beyer when winning the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, which gives him the only triple digit Beyer number in the expected field. Life Is Good (Into Mischief) earned a 107 when winning the GII San Felipe S., but has been sidelined.

“We really thought the world of him, but you never really know until they get on the racetrack,” said co-owner Kosta Hronis. “He travels really well. He makes it look really easy and he kind of floats over the track. He does things effortlessly. We think he has a bright future and looks like a special colt.”

Flightline broke on top in his debut and reeled off an opening quarter-mile in :21.59 seconds, but seemed to be going easily. With Flavien Prat aboard, he started to draw away on the turn and kept extending his lead, even though Prat wrapped up on him well before the wire. His final time for the six furlongs was 1:08.75.

“Flavien said he really did it so easily and that he was not even breathing hard,” Hronis said.

Hronis Racing owns Flightline along with Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing.

Due to the belated debut, Flightline is not in line to run in any of the Triple Crown races. The major summer stakes for 3-year-olds could be on his schedule, but Hronis said that the owners and trainer John Sadler have not mapped out any plans for their rising star.

“He runs so fast, so we'd like to keep things spaced out,” Hronis said. “Since it was just his first race, we'll just see when he's ready to come back. When he's ready to go, I'm sure we can find a 3-year-old colt race where he will fit right in. But, no, we don't really have anything targeted at this point.”

Flightline, a $1-million purchase from the Lane's End consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, suffered through a setback last year just prior to when he was scheduled to be sent to Sadler's Santa Anita barn, the reason why he didn't debut until Saturday.

“About a week before he was scheduled to come to California, he cut himself,” Hronis said. “He has a scar on his butt on his right hind. They had to stitch him up. It was just something that happened at the barn and nobody really knows what happened or how he did it. But that set him back. Because we always thought he was a special colt, we gave him 60 days off to let him heal up right.”

Had Sadler been more aggressive, he might have been able to get Flightline to the races in January or February, which would have given him enough time to make the Derby. Hronis said that was not anything the connections ever considered.

“That's just not our style,” he said. “We like to be really patient and let the horse tell us when they are ready. Would having him in the Derby be fun? Yes, it would have, but at same time you don't want to do anything to jeopardize their careers. It is the Sadler-Hronis philosophy. We like to be patient and let the horse tell us when they are ready to go. We're never going to push them.”

Over the last many years, the Hronis Brothers have been among the most successful owners in the sport, but most of their biggest wins have come with older horses. Rock Your World will be their first Kentucky Derby starter.

“We bought a lot of nice yearlings in the past, like [Eclipse Award and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner] Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky),” Hronis said. “They just came around a little slower. Rock Your World developed and matured a little faster than ones we've had in the past. We haven't changed our buying or training philosophy. These ones just happened to come along faster than ones we've had in the past. To get a 3-year-old to be able to run a mile-and-a-quarter the first week in May is not easy.”

Bloodstock agent David Ingordo said he had had his eye on him for some time before signing the ticket at Saratoga.

“Lane's End handles a lot of the sales for Jane Lyon out at Summer Wind,” said Ingordo. “We went out shortly after some of her yearlings turned a year old, in February or March of their yearling year and they were showing us a chestnut Tapit colt out of American Pharoah's dam who turned out to be Triple Tap. And there was a chestnut and a bay, and I kept looking at the bay, and they said you need to look at the chestnut, because the bay is the one she's thinking about keeping. We went back a few times through the spring, and the bay one was the one I always liked.”

Fast-forward to August, and Ingordo was on a Tex Sutton plane with a load of horses when they hit turbulence.

“The guys asked if I could go back and grab a horse, so I grabbed the first horse and I was standing there and I looked at him and said, 'oh, there you are.' I only realized he was there when I was holding him on the plane. He was an expensive colt, but it all worked out in the end.”

Spending $1 million on a yearling is also something that hasn't been in the Hronis playbook.

“We spent that much money because we knew we were going to partner up,” Hronis said. “The seven figures was not just us. We would never do that by ourselves. It's too big of a risk. I've seen a lot of $1-million horses in $20,000 claiming races. The fact that the breeder, Summer Wind, stayed in is important. That showed that they believed in him, too. When you have partners like we do, it's easier to absorb that kind of horse.”

The post With Triple-Digit Beyer, Sky’s The Limit for Flightline appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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With longshot Parnelli and favored Medina Spirit gunning for the early lead as expected, Rispoli appeared to take his measure of the competition heading into the clubhouse turn, allowing his mount  to get into stride, which he did, taking command into the turn and from there, dictating terms throughout.

With a three-quarter-length advantage on both Parnelli and Medina Spirit at the half mile pole, Rock Your World got stronger as the race progressed, chugging through splits of :22.42, :46.11, 1:10.64 and 1:36.27.  Although both Parnelli and Medina Spirit were “all-in” a quarter mile out, the Derby was essentially over as none of the others could make up any ground through the lane.

“We have been laying in the weeds,” said Sadler, who bagged his second Runhappy Santa Anita Derby.  “I thought it would be good to start this horse off on the turf, much like Omaha Beach, and develop.  The plan was to run him a couple of times on the turf and now it was time to get the points.  We gotta get the points to get to Kentucky.

“…The post (position) dictated our strategy.  I saw Umberto in the paddock this morning at 8 a.m. and I told him 'Go big or go home.'  We had to get out of there with the scratch inside (of number one Roman Centurian) of us.  It worked out great and I'm very excited.”

A handy winner of the ungraded Pasadena Stakes going a mile on turf Feb. 27, Rock Your World was off at 5-1 and paid $12.40, $4.60 and $3.40.

Owned by Hronis Racing, LLC or Talla Racing, LLC, Rock Your World is out of the McAnally's Empire Maker mare Charm the Maker.  With the winner's share of $450,000, Rock Your World increased his earnings to $546,600 and is now unbeaten in three starts.

Favored at 4-5, Medina Spirit appeared to have a perfect trip while second-best, finishing 2 ¼ lengths in front of Medina Spirit.  Ridden by John Velazquez, Medina Spirit paid $2.80 and $2.20.

“The horse ran well, but the winner took the lead on a fast track and kept running,” said Velazquez. “My horse kept coming and kept coming but couldn't catch up. He did have some left in the tank at the end and he kept coming, but the other horse got away pretty well and opened up again. It was too hard to catch up.”

Ridden by Flavien Prat, Dream Shake was forwardly placed throughout, but never threatened for the win.  Off at 9-2, he paid $2.80 to show.

“We had a good trip and it was a bit, you know, drawing gate side was not the best spot but the horse was travelling well and the race went well,” said Prat.

With 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points at stake, Rock Your World will receive 100, with 40, 20 and 10 points awarded to the second, third and fourth place finishers.

Updated Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

The post Out Of The Weeds: Rock Your World Wins Santa Anita Derby In Main Track Debut appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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