Tag: Lane’s End

No Shortage of Excitement For Lane’s End’s Newest Addition

Just a week and a half after GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic winner Flightline (Tapit) was officially retired and shipped from Keeneland Race Course down the road to his new home at Lane's End Farm, the Versailles-based operation opened its doors to members of the media for an up-close and personal afternoon with their newest superstar addition on Wednesday.

With a group of nearly 15 in attendance, along with members of the Lane's End team, Flightline was walked around the stallion complex, displaying how well he has adapted to life on the farm. Despite the colder temperatures, with a hint of snow and the bite of wind in the air, the recently retired colt took everything in stride as those watching took videos and photos to document the experience.

After all facetime with Flightline was fulfilled, the group headed inside to hear from Lane's End's Bill Farish and David Ingordo, the operation's bloodstock agent, who provided further insight on the decision to retire Flightline this year. He will enter stud next season, standing for a fee of $200,000 LFSN.

“We got together the Sunday afterwards, the day after [the Breeders' Cup], and we went over every scenario, looking at the different races and different targets he could have had for next year,” said Farish.

The GI Pegasus World Cup, set for Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 at Gulfstream Park, was brought up as an example, where the team weighed questions such as, “Who's going to run in the Pegasus against him? Is it going to be worth waiting that time and bucking up against breeding season?”

“To go on through the [next] year, again, he'd beaten the best four 3-year-olds and best other older horses that are out there. Who's going to emerge to run against him? By the time Breeders' Cup rolls around next year, maybe there will be a superstar that will be worthy of that, but that's a long wait for one race. There just really was no upside to keep him in training,” said Farish.

In the end, those factors along with the reality that he was at the end of his 4-year-old season led owners Hronis Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine and Lane's End-affiliated partnership Woodford Racing to the ultimate decision to retire Flightline from his racing career and ready him for his first season at stud.

Flightine has proven to acclimate exceptionally well throughout his racing career. He did so when traveling from his home base at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA, to Belmont Park in Elmont, NY, for a victorious romp in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H., and later back to the West Coast for his breathtaking GI TVG Pacific Classic win at Del Mar. And finally returning to what ended up being his final destination in central Kentucky, Flightline struts around Lane's End as if he's spent his entire life there.

“He just adapted immediately; we probably could have just turned him out the first day. He's been so relaxed and so intelligent about everything, it's amazing. He's a really smart horse,” said Farish.

Not only does Flightline add prestige to the farm's 2023 roster in the form of on-track success and exceptional conformation, but there's also immense hope that he will add to the legacies that have been created by his sire Tapit, grandsire Pulpit and great-grandsire A.P. Indy, the late stalwart of Lane's End.

“Having multiple generations of any sire line has always meant a lot to us here. With Dixieland Band, we've had four generations of that sire line, and now seeing the same thing happen with A.P. Indy, it's really special,” said Farish.

 

 

 

With all of that being said, the team at Lane's End has been under immense pressure to pull together the best possible first book for their new stallion. But even before the decision to officially retire Flightline to stud was made, a continuous stream of inquiries was flooding in and the team was diving into pedigree research in an effort to plan ahead.

“I think people in their minds maybe felt he would retire, so they took it upon themselves to say, 'I'm going to set this mare aside.' Nobody knew we were retiring this horse until the morning we did, because it was that kind of decision, it was a very difficult one,” Ingordo said. “When people would say, 'Well should I send you a mare?' I'd reply, 'If you want to set one aside, you go ahead, you send it to me, we'll figure it out [when] we do it,' and this was during the October sale, the September sale. Once the announcement was made, the inbox and texts and everything got full.”

“We did a lot of pedigree research ahead of time, and again, we didn't decide we were retiring him until Sunday morning, but we went on the offensive because we figured if he races on, we'll have this year's sales mares and next year's sales mares. We went through and worked with [Werk Thoroughbred Consultants'] Sid Fernando on some pedigree research, and later we graded them all, then we made a list. Once he was retired, we went through and looked at them all and we just [assessed] every mare that fit him.”

According to Farish, Flightline's first book of mares will be set around 150.

He remarked on the impressive quality of the mares submitted so far, with plenty of interest from many of the top breeders nationwide and substantial attention from prominent international interests. Notable mares that are already part of the book include champion Shamrock Rose (First Dude), purchased for $3 million in foal to Curlin at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale by KI Farm; Queen Caroline (Blame), dam of 'TDN Rising Star' and multiple Grade I winner Forte (Violence); and Diva Delite (Repent), dam of champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute).

“We've had a lot of interest from the Japanese. They were going to take their mares straight to Japan and I think we've got five or six horses that came out of the sale, that were purchased by Japanese [connections], that are going to hopefully breed to him and spread his influence over there,” said Farish. “That's one of the unbelievable added benefits with a horse like this, there's total international interest and a lot of European mares as well, so I think he'll have a really good balance. I wish it was this easy with all of them.”

“We bought the mares we thought we liked that fit him and we had notes on all of these other ones so when people were submitting them, we tried to be as thoughtful as we could without, as a friend of mine says, having 'Analysis to paralysis.' We think we've curated a pretty good book,” added Ingordo.

Until breeding season officially begins in February, all the team behind Flightline can do is wait, while continuing to field hundreds of emails, phone calls and a seemingly never-ending stream of farm visits.

“I don't know if it's going to work or not but we can't say we didn't try,” said Ingordo.

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Letters to the Editor: Gary West On Flightline

I don't think I've ever witnessed such runaway adulation. It was as though the commentators and analysts joined in a competition to see who could erect the highest pile of praise, and when somebody said Flightline might be the greatest horse of all-time–well, it was then that my head struck my desk under the avalanche of hyperbolic plaudits.

And a day later, when his owners announced he would be retired, I immediately realized I couldn't vote for Flightline as Horse of the Year. That's why I'm writing: to explain my position. It comes down to this: I'm not going to reward people–Flightline's ownership group in this case–who put their own interests ahead of the sport's. That's exactly what these owners did. They have the prevailing values of a pocket calculator. When self-interest poses as sport, it's meretricious. Even airbrushed by apologists, it's ugly.

One of the owners, trying to rationalize the decision, said Flightline had nothing left to prove. Really? After just six races, he has nothing left to prove? Did he prove he could transfer his talent to the grass, as did Secretariat and Dr. Fager? Did Flightline prove he could defeat quality competition while carrying 130 or more pounds, as Assault and Spectacular Bid and many other truly great racehorses have done over the years? Did Flightline prove he could successfully take on an international field that included the world's best and most accomplished performers, as did Curlin, Tiznow and Cigar? No, no and no. In truth, Flightline was retired with a great deal left unproven.

When analyzed in a more sober moment, after the sport and its mouthpieces have taken a few of the 12 steps, it becomes clear that Flightline did not prove he's one of the all-time great racehorses. Perhaps he possessed great potential and almost certainly great talent. He might have been the most talented horse based in North America since Ghostzapper. But many horses in recent years have accomplished more, much more, than Flightline. And so he did not prove himself a great racehorse. Nobody can point to an array of Flightline accomplishments that collectively and indisputably shine with that unmistakeable glow of greatness. In the Classic he defeated a very good older horse, Olympiad, and a very good 3-year-old, Taiba, but Flightline's foremost competition, Epicenter, was injured before completing a half-mile. And in the Pacific Classic, Flightline defeated another very good older horse, Country Grammer, who had peaked six months earlier and hadn't won since. Flightline also defeated Speaker's Corner and Happy Saver, of course, but does that make him one of the greatest of all-time?

Nothing left to prove? After only six races? Really? After only four stakes victories? Really? That's either shamefully disingenuous or stunningly stupid.

In my view–and I own horses–an owner has three responsibilities. First and foremost, an owner has a responsibility to the horse; he's responsible for the horse's health and safety and care, but also for giving the athlete the opportunity to fulfill its racing potential. Second, an owner is responsible to the sport itself, its traditions, history and integrity. And an owner is responsible to horse racing's fans, for without them, the sport needs to realize, there's nothing. The owners of Flightline, in my view, betrayed all three responsibilities.

Horse racing and its fan base have been shrinking for many years. The sport, though, treats this as an enigma it doesn't want to solve because, well, truth is painful. But owners and breeders continue to shunt the sport's stars off the stage before they ever have an opportunity to utter their best lines, and with them go fans' loyalties. Flightline is only the latest example.

It just goes on and on and on, this obstinate journey toward self-destruction. Whenever owners yield to avarice and whenever they focus on the sales ring rather than the racetrack, the sport shrinks a little more. And horse racing will continue to shrink into insignificance if its leaders, or so-called leaders, will not sacrifice their personal interests for the sport's good. That's why I cannot and will not vote for Flightline.

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Taking Stock: Flightline and that Share

About an hour or so after one of 40 shares in Flightline, a son of Tapit and the Indian Charlie mare Feathered, was sold for an unimaginable $4.6 million in an historic special session at Keeneland Monday, Flightline was led out of his stall at Lane's End and posed behind the stallion barn, oblivious to the hubbub on the sales grounds about 10 miles away.

He's a stunning and athletic physical specimen, standing 16.2 hands, with length to go with height and balance. He's so well put together and pleasing to look at that at first glance no one single feature jumps out and grabs the eye, because all of him does at once, flooding the senses. But zoom in here and there and it's evident that the parts that make up the whole are of the finest quality: a well-defined and chiseled masculine shoulder with depth; strong forearms over clean and smooth limbs with short cannons; pasterns at exactly the right angles that are neither too short nor too long; a big hip and butt; and hind legs set perfectly underneath. He'd first caught the eye of Lane's End Bloodstock's David Ingordo as an early and unfinished yearling at breeder Jane Lyon's Summer Wind, and later that year, in August, was purchased by his current ownership group on Ingordo's advice for $1 million at Fasig-Tipton's marquee Saratoga sale.

It's evident that Flightline gets some of his looks from broodmare sire Indian Charlie, who also had size, strength, masculinity, and similar patterns of muscling, except Indian Charlie was slightly back at the knee and had rough ankles, neither of which plagues Flightline.

What stands out the most about Flightline is his mind and presence: he's non-plussed, intelligent, and kind. Here he was, two days after he'd clobbered a high-level field in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, calmly and confidently surveying his new home, and it's easy to understand how he overcame several mishaps and one major injury along the way and continued to train on with gusto and win at the highest levels.

At the moment, Flightline is being let down cautiously, spending time in a round pen when he's not in his stall. It's expected that by the end of next week he'll be in a paddock like the other studs at the farm, as he's transitioning quickly from a life of hard training at the track to an easier life on the farm for his next career as a stallion.

The Share

Flightline is owned by a 40-share syndicate, with Kosta Hronis and family controlling 15 shares; Lyon's Summer Wind, 10 shares; Terry Finley's West Point, seven shares; Bill Farish and partners' Woodford, four shares; and Anthony Manganaro's Siena Farm, four shares. Lane's End will get breeding rights for standing the horse, and a few others are in the hands of trainer John Sadler and David Ingordo.

The share–a 2.5% fractional interest–that was auctioned came from the West Point group, which is composed of seven individual partners with one share each (2.5% of 40 is one share). Some of them pooled portions of their fractional interests to form one share or 2.5% to offer at auction, and Freddie Seitz, as agent for an undisclosed Seattle-based owner and client with interests in the coffee business, held off underbidder Coolmore to secure the share for the $4.6 million, placing a “value” of $184 million on Flightline's head. In comparison, Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) had a book value of $75 million as a new sire just a few years ago.

The big share price is, of course, a trophy prize, and in the strictest sense it will not bear a direct relationship to his stud fee, which is $200,000 live foal–as much as the entering fees of American Pharoah, Ghostzapper, and Devil's Bag. At that fee, based on a four-year return and, say, a 160-mare cap, a traditional market value for a share would likely be about $2.8 to $3 million based on pure back-of-napkin math without expenses: two seasons each year (each shareholder gets two seasons) is $400,000, multiplied by four years, is $1.6 million; and on the back end, a bonus pool of $12 million a year (say 60 mares at $200,000 is $12 million), divided by 40 shares, is $300,000 per share per year, times four years, is $1.2 million. Extending this example over five years, a case could be made for $2 million in stud fee income and $1.5 million in bonus-pool money (assuming the stud fee stays the same), for a value of $3.5 million, plus depreciation. And there's also the possibility of added bonus-pool monies from expanding his book and from breeding Flightline at Lane's End on Southern Hemisphere time.

The Flightline syndicate, of course, is tightly held by the colt's original ownership group, which is to say that not many shares will become available. That scarcity–think of it as an illiquid market–means that the shares that do become available will be snapped up by those few that have the means to pay premium-plus, like the unnamed buyer at $4.6 million and the underbidder, Coolmore, at $4.5 million.

For such owners, that type of money may not be as outlandish as it seems to some. An entity like Coolmore, for example, could breed to Flightline a mare like Gamine, who was purchased for $7 million, and race the offspring, hoping to get a top-class winner. And if Flightline becomes a success at stud like undefeated Frankel, who will stand for about $315,000 in 2023, that would be money well spent in hindsight.

Betting on any unproven stallion is a gamble, but Flightline has the impeccable credentials to succeed as a stallion. Not only is he a son of the elite stallion Tapit, whose son Constitution will stand for $110,000 at WinStar in 2023, he's from a mare, Feathered, who won a Grade 3 race and placed three times in Grade I races, earning $577,474. Moreover, Feathered, who was bred by Teresa Viola, spouse of Vinny Viola (who has a Flightline share under the West Point umbrella), is from the sought-after Phipps family of Blitey/Lady Pitt and was purchased by Lyon in 2016 at Keeneland November for $2,350,000.

In other words, Flightline was bred to be a superstar, and he's that rare example of a horse that realized his lofty potential–and some.

Combine this pedigree with Flightline's exceptional looks, astonishing talent, and undefeated race record, and he is–as the share price reflected–the most desirable new prospect to enter the marketplace in a long time.

   Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Flightline to Stand for $200K in 2023

Undefeated Flightline (Tapit), who retired to Lane's End Farm after an 8 1/4-length victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 5, will stand the 2023 season for $200,000.

The 4-year-old was bred by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm and raced by Summer Wind in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. He was trained by John Sadler and ridden in all six of his starts by Flavien Prat. In addition to the Classic, Flightline won the GI Pacific Classic, GI Metropolitan H. and GI Malibu S.

A fraction interest in the likely Horse of the Year sold for $4.6 million prior to the start of Keeneland's November sale Monday.

Sporting a figure of 139, he is the world's highest rated racehorse in 2022, and is the highest-rated dirt horse of all time.

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