Summer Wind to Retain Yearling Half-Brother to Flightline

Following Flightline (Tapit)'s jaw-dropping victory in the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar Saturday, breeder Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Farm has decided to withdraw the star colt's half-brother by Curlin from next week's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The yearling, who is named Eagles Flight, had been catalogued as hip 243 with the Lane's End consignment.

“I had a feeling when Flightline did what he did [in the Pacific Classic] that it was going to be pretty hard for her to part with him,” said Lane's End's Bill Farish, confirming the news first reported in Blood-Horse. “It's disappointing not to be able to sell him, but we totally understand the decision to keep him.”

Farish continued, “[Lyon]'s been on the fence for a long time about selling him. She loves all of her horses, but every year there are a few that really grab her. And this one always has. It's tough because she loves to sell them well, too, but this is one that is just hard to part with.”

Flightline is out of multiple Grade I placed Feathered (Indian Charlie), who was purchased by Summer Wind for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November sale. The mare produced a filly by Into Mischief this year and was bred back to Tapit.

Feathered's 3-year-old colt by Pioneerof the Nile, Voron, was exported to Russia after selling for $100,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton October sale, and her 2-year-old colt by Tapit, Olivier, RNA'd for $390,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. Olivier worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 (17/27) at Keeneland last Friday.

Flightline, who races for a partnership which includes Summer Wind, as well as Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, sold for $1 million at the 2019 Saratoga sale.

Asked to compare the yearling to Flightline, Farish said, “They are both outstanding colts. This colt has a lot more Curlin in him. He is a stronger-made–not that Flightline's not–but Flightline is longer and this is more of a Curlin type. But he is really an outstanding-looking individual.”

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Tapit’s Flightline In A Race Of His Own In Pac Classic

The $1-million question heading into Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI TVG Pacific Classic was if unbeaten superstar Flightline (Tapit) could handle the 1 1/4-mile Classic distance.

Here's a scary thought: he may be even better going longer.

Stopping the timer just .17 seconds off Candy Ride (Arg)'s track record for 10 furlongs established in the 2003 renewal, the dominating last out GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. winner absolutely crushed his five rivals by a geared-down record margin of 19 1/4 lengths–yes, you read that correctly–in a performance for the ages while making his two-turn debut in the Del Mar centerpiece. Country Grammer (Tonalist), winner of this term's G1 Dubai World Cup, was second.

“Did I think he could do that–win like that? Kinda yeah,” winning trainer John Sadler said after saddling his fourth Pacific Classic winner. “You don't want to say it in front of the race, but now that he's done it. The thing about him is that he's fast and he can carry it. Some horses are fast, but they can't go on. This horse can. He's an exceptional horse.”

Off at his 1-5 morning-line quote, the Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing colorbearer cruised up to the front while racing about four wide heading into the clubhouse. Flavien Prat positioned Flightline in a perfect spot in second just off outsider Extra Hope (Shanghai Bobby) through early fractions of :23.42 and :46.06. Flightline could wait no longer as they hit the backstretch and tugged his way to the front. Prat didn't get in his way and let last term's GI Runhappy Malibu S. winner do his thing from there and this is where it got fun. Very fun.

About a little over a length in front with a half-mile remaining, the $1-million FTSAUG graduate hit the gas while Prat continued to sit chilly heading into the far turn, opened an “embarrassing lead” per legendary announcer Trevor Denman leaving the quarter pole and was in a race of his own down the Del Mar stretch in an absolute masterful performance.

“As soon as I looked back and saw how far in front he was, I wrapped up on him,” Prat said. “Obviously, this is the best horse I ever rode.”

Pedigree Notes:

Summer Wind Equine's Jane Lyon has steadily acquired a stellar broodmare band since buying her first Thoroughbred mares in 1995. Although it may be hard to believe, her first Grade I winner as a breeder didn't happen until just five years ago with Moonshine Memories (Malibu Moon). She's added quite a few more in the last five years, with Flightline–rumored to be the most valuable stallion prospect in history–undoubtedly the greatest feather in her cap to date. Click for a feature on Lyon's beginnings in TDN Weekend.

Lyon bought Feathered, Flightline's dam, for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November sale, and never was a mare more worth every penny. Her granddam is dual GISW Finder's Fee (Storm Cat), her great-granddam is GISW Fantastic Find (Mr. Prospector), and her great-great granddam is the unparalleled Phipps mare Blitey (Riva Ridge), whose descendants include champion Heavenly Prize; MGISWs Dancing Spree, Finder's Fee, and Good Reward; and GISWs Furlong, Oh What a Windfall, Dancing Forever, Persistently, and Instilled Regard.

Feathered has a 2-year-old full-brother to Flightline named Olivier, who was a $390,000 RNA at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. The colt has been working at Keeneland and Lyon reportedly has retained him in partnership. Feathered 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 is one of 95 Northern Hemisphere-bred graded winners for Tapit and one of 152 black-type winners for the perennial leading sire, who stands at Gainesway.

Saturday, Del Mar
TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC S.-GI, $1,000,500, Del Mar, 9-3, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 1:59.28, ft.
1–FLIGHTLINE, 124, 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.
$600,000. Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $1,394,800. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Country Grammer, 124, h, 5, Tonalist–Arabian Song, by
Forestry. ($60,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $450,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR;
$110,000 4yo '21 KEEJAN). O-Commonwealth Thoroughbreds,
LLC, Winstar Farm LLC & Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Scott &
Debbie Pierce (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $200,000.
3–Royal Ship (Brz), 124, g, 6, Midshipman–Bela Val (Brz), by
Val Royal (Fr). O-Fox Hill Farms, Inc. & Siena Farm LLC;
B-Haras Belmont (Brz); T-Richard E. Mandella. $120,000.
Margins: 19 1/4, 7, HF. Odds: 0.30, 3.80, 10.20.
Also Ran: Express Train, Extra Hope, Stilleto Boy.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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On Eve of Pacific Classic, Sadler Just Doing His Job

Four years ago on the eve of the GI TVG Pacific Classic, the hunt for the heavy favorite amid the lettered labyrinth of Del Mar's backstretch ended at Barn J.

The stall, of course, belonged to Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), a sleek, shiny copper penny of a colt, who carried weighty expectations that this was the year his trainer, John Sadler, would finally shrug off the voodoo that had cursed his previous attempts at the coveted prize.

It was also viewed as a new high altitude for a horse whose climb to the summit of the sport had been distinguished not by a dizzying free-climb to the top, but by careful, steady progress. Each foothold earned and true. A trail of sweat left behind at each contour.

The team wasn't without worries. The horse's regular rider, Victor Espinoza–widely seen as something of a key to Accelerate's latent talent–had that July taken a crunching fall aboard the Peter Miller trained Bobby Abu Dhabi, whose sudden death during training left Espinoza with a broken C3 vertebrae in his neck and fears, miraculously temporary, of paralysis.

In the end, Espinoza's replacement, Joel Rosario, has probably ridden no easier winner before or since, quickly putting what looked like the length of a football pitch between him and his dumbstruck rivals with a stunning kick around the home turn.

Four years on, and the hunt for this year's heavy favorite on the eve of the Del Mar showpiece once again leads to Barn J.

“Right now I'm excited, but I'm not overly excited,” said Sadler, Wednesday morning in his office, of Flightline (Tapit), whose stall-padded floor to ceiling as though housing a madman, faces the office door.

To be fair to Flightline, we're not talking Hannibal Lecter. “He's very content here,” Sadler said. “Loves Del Mar. He's just a nice horse to be around. But you know, he has his quirks. He can be a little aggressive in the stall.”

As for Sadler's declaration of studied equilibrium, it provides a measured counter-point to the celebrity fandom that follows each rare race-day sighting of the horse.

“We've got a couple more days,” Sadler added. “When you get in race week and everything's gone well, you just want to maintain that. That's really the message coming out of here this week. He doesn't have to run any faster. He's just got to run the same as he's been running.”

Words to strike fear into the heart of this weekend's competitors, all of whom will have witnessed Flightline's clinical evisceration of the 21 hapless victims strewn in his wake between races one to four.

If indeed Flightline turns up on Saturday and runs the same as he's been running, the race will prove a fascinating bookend to Sadler's own trajectory these past few years, catapulting a stellar record into even higher orbits.

Accelerate, of course, subsequently secured Sadler his first Breeders' Cup victory, in the GI Classic and a Horse of the Year garland would surely have followed were it not for a Triple Crown that went the way of Justify (Scat Daddy).

Hitherto winless in the Pacific Classic prior to Accelerate, the trainer has since secured another two victories in the race, courtesy of Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) in 2019 and Tripoli (Kitten's Joy) last year.

The GI Santa Anita “Big Cap” H. was another West Coast landmark oddly absent from Sadler's travel card until Accelerate righted that wrong. Stablemates Gift Box (Twirling Candy) and Combatant (Scat Daddy) followed up over the next two years. The likes of Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags), Rock Your World (Candy Ride), Cistron (The Factor) and Flagstaff (Speightstown) each have played a part in keeping the heat turned on full.

Then came Flightline, a stratospheric talent from whatever plain you're on. A big long-striding and magnificent comet, blink and you'll miss him bright. The numbers have been crunched, cogitated and digested. Four races, four wins. Average distance of victory is 10.9 lengths. Beyers from a Death Valley summer of 105, 114, 118, and 112.

“Is this the best horse I've ever trained? I say, yes. I don't hesitate,” Sadler said. “I've never trained a horse like this in my 30, 40-odd year career. But I don't compare him to other great horses. That's for the sports writers and the handicappers and Timeform.”

Which piqued this writer's curiosity. What kinds of stresses come with the responsibility of a horse who draws inevitable comparisons to the likes of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire})? What new instruments has he brought to the trainer's toolbox? Would he have had the skills to harness Flightline's talents if the horse had landed in his barn, say, 20 years prior?

“The horse is teaching me all the time,” Sadler said, before extolling the virtues of patience.

The horse's coterie of owners–Hronis Racing, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm, and Woodford Racing–all receive a gold star.

Despite their multitude, “the owners always allow me to do as I see fit,” he said. “It's all worked so far. So far so good.”

Pressed further, the trainer threw up his hands–the wrong week to wheel out the therapist's couch.

“You're asking me to be super reflective and conceptualize a lot of that stuff, but right now I don't allow myself to do that. I just do my job right now,” Sadler said. “Might be a better interview next week.”

Fair enough stick with the tangibles, like Flightline's last race, the GI Hill 'n' Dale Met Mile on GI Belmont S. day, when a sticky break propelled the horse into stop-start opening furlongs.

Given Flightline's lack of match practice, could the events of the Met Mile have been a blessing in disguise?

“People say that, which is fine. It probably was. But I sure like to break clean. I don't like to put any, you know,” Sadler said, pausing either for effect or the right words, “obstacles in the way.” This explains Flightline's homework assignments at Del Mar this summer, which included a five-furlong bullet from the gate at the end of July.

Then comes another tangible–the as yet unchartered distance of the Pacific Classic. “It's a big ask, you know, to go from a mile to a mile and a quarter,” Sadler said.

Though the stamina of lesser horses can be stretched out, explained the trainer, “when I talk about really good mile-and-a-quarter horses, first of all, they have to have the innate ability to run that far.”

With Flightline, “I've just got to hold him where he is,” he added. “On breeze days, you'll note that his gallops out are very good.”

Much has been made of the team's efforts at reining in Flightline's innate exuberance–a balancing act perhaps too easily under-appreciated.

Stifling too much of a horse's natural quirk and athleticism of a morning can sour them as fast as cream left out in the sun. Let the throttle out too far too often, just watch as the wheels fall off.

Juan Leyva, Sadler's assistant, has done a “beautiful job with him” of a morning, says the trainer, calling it a case of “two minds meeting.”

“He's getting more relaxed, you know,” Sadler added, of Flightline. “He is maturing. He's showing he can carry himself in a more relaxed manner. That's what we're seeing, which is a normal progression.”

As for Saturday, “I see a small field, but a very good field. I know these horses intimately and they're very good,” said Sadler. “We have a lot of respect for every horse in there.”

The Bob Baffert-trained Country Grammer (Tonalist), this year's G1 Dubai World Cup winner given a timely pipe-opener in the GII San Diego H. early in the meet, receives plaudits for his prior top-flight victories over the trip.

Sadler has watched the John Shirreffs-trained Express Train (Union Rags) “throughout his career,” he said. “He's a very nice horse.”

As for Ed Moger's Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), vanquished in Flightline's GI Malibu S. last December, “I like him a lot,” said Sadler.

But talk switches back to the horse mere feet away, saved from himself by padded walls and kept from the public's gaze by a series of well-documented issues and events. Sadler has kept the door open to a 5-year-old campaign. How serious are those overtures?

“We'll get into Saturday and then see how it goes.”

Now, about that interview next week…

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Sept. 3 Insights: Pricey Juveniles Debut on Both Coasts

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency
6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:51 p.m. EDT
Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's $725,000 KEESEP acquisition MINDTAP (Tapit) makes his career bow in this spot for trainer Todd Pletcher. Hailing from the same breeding program that produced unbeaten sensation Flightline (Tapit), the gray is a half to MGISW Curalina (Curlin), who summoned $3 million from Shadai Farm at the 2016 FTKNOV Sale. Summer Wind Farm's Jane Lyon purchased their Grade II-winning dam Whatdreamsrmadeof for $1.65 million at that same auction carrying a full-sibling to Curalina. The resulting colt, now named Curlingo, brought $900,000 at the 2018 KEESEP sale. Whatdreamsrmadeof is also a half to GSW Dream Spinner (Hard Spun). Rosedown Racing Stables Champions Dream (Justify) also debuts in this spot. A $25,000 KEESEP yearling buy, the son of GSW Dancinginherdreams (Tapit) developed into a $425,000 OBSMAR juvenile after breezing in :20 4/5. TJCIS PPs

8th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 3:58 p.m. EDT
Shug McGaughey unveils an expensive and well bred son of Medaglia d'Oro in JUAN VALDEZ. Picked up by Hoby & Layna Kight for $225,000 at KEESEP, the dark bay brought $900,000 from a partnership led by West Point and Woodford Racing at the FTFMAR sale after breezing in :10 flat. He is a half-brother to MGISW sire Constitution (Tapit), GSW Jacaranda (Congrats) and GSW Boynton (More Than Ready). His GSP dam Baffled (Distorted Humor) brought $3.5 million from Bridlewood Farm and Don Alberto at the 2016 FTKNOV sale carrying a full-sibling to Constitution. Don Alberto bought out that partnership for $1.8 million with Juan Valdez in utero at the 2019 renewal of that auction. Baffled is a half to GISW Emcee (Unbridled's Song) and a full to GSW & G1SP Surfer. Todd Pletcher unveils another expensive juvenile buy in Robert and Lawana Low's $550,000 EASMAY acquisition Fantasist, who is the most expensive offspring thus far for his freshman sire Always Dreaming. The $40,000 KEESEP buy breezed in :21 2/5 in Timonium and enters off a bullet work for Todd Pletcher in 1:00 flat (1/25) at this oval Aug. 28. He is out of SW Saritta (Indygo Shiner). West PacesRacing bought first timer Dubyuhnell (Good Magic) for $400,000 at KEESEP and breeder Stonestreet Stables stayed in as a partner. Barbara Banke's operation went to $1 million to acquire his MGSW & GISP dam Wild Gams (Forest Wildcat) at the 2008 KEENOV sale. She is responsible for GSW Cazadero (Street Sense) and SW Mt. Brave (Malibu Moon). TJCIS PPs

6th-DMR, $80K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2fT, 6:30 p.m. EDT
DON CORLEONE (More Than Ready) topped the OBS March Sale when summoning $1.2 million from Kaleem Shah earlier this year and he debuts in this spot for Simon Callaghan. Picked up by Ciaran Dunne on behalf of his Lehigh Bloodstock pinhooking group for $120,000 at KEESEP, the dark bay topped the year's first juvenile sale after breezing in a sharp :9 4/5. He is a half-brother to MSP Broad Approval (Carpe Diem). His second dam, SW & GISP Featherbed (Smart Strike), produced graded winners Dynamic Impact (Tiznow) and Mo Strike (Uncle Mo). The powerhouse ownership group dubbed “The Avengers” are represented here by first timer National Treasure (Quality Road). The $500,000 FTSAUG acquisition is out of a half-sister to SW & GSP Silver City (Unbridled's Song) and Elope (Gone West). The bay enters off a best-of-97 five furlongs in :59 flat at Del Mar Aug. 28 and gains the services of John Velazquez, who is in town to ride this colt's stablemate Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Hawker (Justify), who was recently featured in Steve Sherack's Second Chances column, makes his second start here after missing by a neck in his career bow going five panels at this oval Aug. 6. The $675,000 KEESEP buy is a half to MGSW & GISP Commissioner (A.P. Indy), GSW & GISP Laugh Track (Distorted Humor) and the dam of champion Vino Rosso (Curlin). TJCIS PPs

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