The 8-5 favorite as the betting public set their sights on her royalty-befitting auction price and pedigree, the flashy chestnut took some time to find her feet as the entire field, save for one filly who never was involved, disputed affairs at the front. Eventual runner-up Neat Trick (Good Magic) was pressing the issue from four off the fence, and fractions sailed by in :22.68 and :45.55 splits. Still chasing that group and now with a wall of horses in front of her as they made the swing into the lane, Sedona angled out five wide to find racing room and produced an eye-catching rally when the opportunity arose. She overhauled Neat Trick by a half-length as that one held off On Command (Omaha Beach) to claim second. Sedona is Curlin's 25th 'Rising Star'.

“I think she's a classy filly,” said winning trainer Shug McGaughey. “She's really come around the last month. I was kind of not satisfied with her earlier in the winter, development-wise. About three weeks ago, I was up there, and she worked really well. I think her development is good. I like to see her run this way, where she goes on and finish–because they learn–instead of being on the lead.”

Favored firster #6 SEDONA ($5.40) closes down the outside to make her debut a winning one in R7 at Gulfstream.

The well-bred $2 million yearling purchase was ridden by @jose93_ortiz for Shug McGaughey and owners @westpointtbred, @woodfordracing, and Chris Larsen. pic.twitter.com/K1WDb1TC4j

— TVG (@TVG) March 3, 2024

A full-sister to multiple Graded winner 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain, who himself sold for $1.5-million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale in 2019 to familiar connections, Sedona is the most recent to the races for America. In addition to that full-brother, there is a full-sister American Caviar who never made it to the races, and last produced a now yearling colt by Uncle Mo. That sister RNA'd at the 2023 Keeneland November sale for $390,000 while her Uncle Mo sold to AAA Thoroughbreds for $510,000 in the same ring.

America had her own offspring by the stallion, producing unplaced Kid America (Uncle Mo), a $550,000 RNA at KEESEP in 2021, as well as a 2-year-old colt who missed his reserve at FTKOCT in 2023 when the last bid came in at $345,000. She has since produced a yearling full-sister to Sedona and is due to Gun Runner this season.

Their dam has her own sales stories to tell having never hit her reserve in a public auction. The multiple Grade I-placed racemare first went unsold as a yearling for $725,000 at KEESEP '12, and later at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, an RNA in 2019 at $3.1-million and then again in 2023 when the final bid fell short at $1.2-million.

Along with the busy first dam, this is also the female family of Paris Bikini, who is now in Japan after selling for $1.95-million in 2020 to Katsumi Yoshida while in foal to Uncle Mo. Her claim to fame is by way of her daughter, GISW Paris Lights (Curlin), who sold to Spendthrift Farm for $3.1-million at KEENOV in 2021. In the extended family, Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour makes an appearance as well as European champion Peeping Fawn.

7th-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 3-3, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:24.24, ft, 1/2 length.
SEDONA, f, 3, by Curlin
           1st Dam: America {GSW & MGISP, $580,532}, by A.P. Indy
           2nd Dam: Lacadena, by Fasliyev
           3rd Dam: Butterfly Blue (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $42,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV and for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-Woodford Racing, LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Chris Larsen; B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R. McGaughey III. *$2,000,000 Ylg '22 FTSAUG. **Full to First Captain, MGSW & GISP, $662,100.

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To her outside is Segesta (Ghostzapper), a homebred for Juddmonte, who is out of GI Just A Game victress Antonoe (First Defense). Hailing from a busy European family, and trained by Chad Brown, the filly picks up the riding talents of Irad Ortiz Jr.. TJCIS PPs.

10th-GP, $89k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:36p.m. ET
Racing in the colors of John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock, TIME STONE (American Pharoah) debuts for the Cherie DeVaux barn in the second of two turf maidens on the card. Out of an unplaced daughter of G1SW-Eng Timepiece (GB) (Zamindar), she's been working steadily at Palm Meadows and before that at Keeneland, albeit over the main track. Time Stone will break from the rail and is 12-1 on the morning line. This is the female family of European champion Twice Over (GB).

On the other end of the gate will go Investment Process (English Channel) for the powerhouse Klaravich-Chad Brown combination. A full-sister to SW Malleymoo, she was a $210,000 FTKOCT yearling purchase in 2022, and her two other siblings to start on the turf have also been winners. This is the family of two-time European champion, and multiple Highweight New Approach (Ire) through his unraced half-sister Park Heiress (Ire). TJCIS PPs.

4th-SA, $65k, Msw, 4-5yo, 6f, 5:05p.m. ET
Late for his debut, but on the cusp of finally getting his career started here, PROSPER (City of Light) will go to post for John Sadler and the ownership group of Talla Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing. A $1.7-million KEESEP pick up three years ago, the 4-year-old has a hefty worktab to his credit and all of them at this track. A half-brother to GSW Abaan (Will Take Charge) and GSP Chip Leader (Giant's Causeway), Prosper is 5-2 on the morning line. This is the family of MGSW & GISP Broken Vow, a leading broodmare sire in Korea since his export, and champion grass mare MGISW Forever Together (Belong to Me). TJCIS PPs.

7th-SA, $65k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 6:41p.m. ET
Carrying the colors of Natalie Baffert and trained by Bob Baffert, BONAQUA (Tonalist) will open her career in this main track dash. A $250,000 KEESEP buy, the filly has been putting up noteworthy efforts in the morning with her most recent being a 4 panel work from the gate in :48 flat (4/91) with the notes describing it as 'handily'. Her dam Ma Mo (Uncle Mo) is a half-sister to MSW Swag Daddy (Scat Daddy) as well as GSP What a Tale (Tale fo the Cat) and SP Anjorie (A. P Jet), herself the dam of SW Fierce Lady (Competitive Edge) and SP Bluegrass Jamboree (Bluegrass Cat).

To the outside of that one will be Show Card (Into Mischief), the Juddmonte homebred hailing from the extended 'TDN Rising Star' family of two-time champion MGISW Malathaat (Curlin) and her full-sister GSW & GISP Julia Shining. The second dam SP Dream Sweeper is a half-sister to Dream Rush, the start of that remarkable line, and Show Card's winning dam is herself a half-sister to MSP Dreams to Reality (Lookin at Lucky). Book-ending the field is MyRacehorse or Platts's runner Simply Enchanting (Byquist), a $475,000 KEESEP buy who is a half to MGSW & MGISP Envoutante (Uncle Mo). TJCIS PPs.

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“I think it was just timing,” he reflects. “She was in one of the later books and in foal to Badge of Silver, on a late cover, which wasn't too popular. Mayan Maiden (Lyphard) [her dam] had produced the dam of [turf millionaire] Al Khali (Medaglia d'Oro), but neither she nor had any of her offspring had black type. In fact Emory had sold Mayan Maiden as an older mare to Bobby Flay, carrying Mesa Fresca. And now here was her daughter, and I liked her, thought she looked like some of Emory's mares that I knew from Chic Shirine: that's really what attracted me, just having seen that family do so well for so many years.”

Chic Shirine, of course, was the daughter of Mr Prospector who established the premier branch of the dynasty centered on her dam Too Chic (Blushing Groom {Fr}). Three of Chic Shirine's daughters produced Grade I winners and a fourth has lately emerged as granddam of two more in Olympiad and Preservationist. Those young stallions are now seeking to establish a communal legacy for King Ranch, but for Armstrong the connection always felt highly personal. In his youth, he learned to recite King Ranch pedigrees long preceding his own lifetime–above all, those tracing to Monade (Fr), the imported 1962 Epsom Oaks winner and fifth dam of Mesa Fresca.

“I've been passionate about the horse business ever since I was a child, and have been coming to the sales for 30 years now,” he says. “My father's 'all in' on polo; he's head of the United States Polo Association, but he's interested in Thoroughbreds too and obviously my extended family has long been involved in the business–they raced Assault–and more recently through Emory and [her sister] Helen.

Larkin Armstrong | Keeneland

“So when I took an interest as well, I was able to learn all about it with them. It was more of an obsession than an interest, really: already at age 11 I was deep into catalogues, pedigrees, the Stallion Register. I grew up in Texas, but always came up and stayed with Helen for the sales, and got to look at horses with Emory as well. She bought Too Chic from the King Ranch consignment in the early '80s, and she became her foundation mare.”

Having secured Swain cut-price access to this genetic goldmine, Armstrong compounded the favor by urging the young Scat Daddy as her next cover.

“Jack makes all the final decisions,” Armstrong stresses. “But yes, Scat Daddy was the one I liked. He was just getting going, he'd had some of his Chilean success at that point, but was still only $17,500. So Mesa Fresca had a filly by him, and we always loved her. Jack's plan was to sell her, so when she came through the September Sale, I said that I'd bid on her. I was thinking how Emory keeps as many fillies as she can from that family. Yes, it was a couple generations back to Chic Shirine, but this filly looked a really nice physical athlete. I got her for $80,000, so Jack 'got out' on the mare, but I got a good price, too!”

Swain's real dividend was still to come. Armstrong named the Scat Daddy filly Harmonize, and watched in astonishment as she made her grandam the fifth daughter of Chic Shirine with a Grade I winner underneath.

“I did really, really like her as a foal, but then it just became an amazing ride,” he reflects. “I sent her to Bill Harrigan who used to work for King Ranch back in the day, and I've known forever. He was breaking her at Payson Park, and loved her. And then Bill Mott calls me out of the blue and says, 'I saw your filly go by on the track: would you let me train her?' My parents had horses with him, my uncle as well, and he'd been one of the first trainers I ever met as a child. And now this filly's such a beautiful mover that he wanted to recruit her. Of course I said yes. So she went into his program and next thing you know, she's running at Saratoga.”

Having been beaten a nose when green on debut, she broke her maiden by daylight in a stakes. That set her up for the GIII Jessamine, where she booked herself a spot at the Breeders' Cup. Though disappointing on rain-softened turf there, she matured to win the GI Del Mar Oaks as a sophomore and then missed the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup only in a photo. She also won a Saratoga graded stakes at four, but came up with some bone bruising and had to be retired.

By that stage, her dam was in foal to War Front and Swain was able to sell her to Cheveley Park Stud at Fasig-Tipton that November for $2 million–a spectacular yield on the $15,000 he had paid for her just six years previously. Moreover Swain has two of her daughters (one retained, the other bought back when she came up for auction) in his own program.

Harmonize | Sarah Andrew

Today Harmonize remains the one and only broodmare in Armstrong's ownership. (“I had a lot of offers along the way,” he acknowledges. “But there was always too much emotional attachment with the family to sell.”) As a graded stakes winner three years running, she clearly channels soundness as well as class from her aristocratic genes. Showing the length of perspective one would expect of his clan, Armstrong astutely started her with proven stallions. Her first foal, by the set-your-watch More Than Ready, admittedly produced only a claiming gelding. But then Armstrong sent her to Quality Road, and was rewarded with a colt that made $700,000 from West Point & Woodford Racing as a Saratoga Select yearling in 2021.

This colt required his purchasers to show a bit of patience, but he was in the right barn for that with Shug McGaughey. In August, he romped on debut in a Colonial Downs maiden. Fast-tracked to the GIII Virginia Derby, he overcame his rawness to cut down a strong field with a flamboyant turn of foot, claiming both the unbeaten streak of GI Saratoga Derby winner Program Trading (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and a new course record. For this, of course, is Integration–whose credentials, as potentially one of the premier talents of his crop, will be tested Saturday in the GII Hill Prince S. at Aqueduct.

“Harmonize's first foal hadn't really been a sales prospect so I raced him, just to start her off,” Armstrong recalls. “He has some ability, and tries hard, but it was Integration that always really looked the part: super athletic, super balanced, perfectly correct, medium-sized, great temperament. The mare is not exactly high-strung, but a little more energetic. He's always been just very calm and kind. Brookdale always loved him and so he ended up going to the Saratoga sale, where he was really able to shine. He has an incredible walk, which is I think what really sold him. And now fortunately that's translated to his racing.

“The Virginia Derby seemed like a bold move, but I thought, 'Well, they must really like him!' I thought he caught up with them easily enough, but then there was just a touch of greenness before he really kicked into gear. So I hope he can still improve.”

The one thing Armstrong knows for sure is that Integration had the perfect springboard in being raised and prepped by the Seitz family at Brookdale.

“It's where Jack Swain boards his horses, so Mesa Fresca went there,” he explains. “They did such a great job for him and, as they'd raised Harmonize too, it made perfect sense for her to go back to them when it was time to breed her. It's just been a really positive experience with them, all round. It's great land, and they're great people.”

Given the way Integration has worked out, Armstrong is glad that he has doubled down on the mare. Her next foal, a Curlin colt, brought $400,000 at Keeneland last year; Armstrong has retained her Nyquist yearling filly to race; and she has a weanling colt by Gun Runner.

“I just haven't wanted to shortchange her in any way, and have tried to breed her to really good stallions,” Armstrong says. “She's such an excellent physical, very correct, a beautiful mover, tons of quality. When I do a mating, I really like to have an idea of what I'm trying to produce with it. Obviously it's always a guess. But what are you trying to improve in the mare? What does she have that's going to complement the stallion? So mostly you start with the physical. And then look at pedigree after that. Those unproven sires, you just don't know yet what they're going to throw: both whether they'll be a good stallion overall, but also what traits. They do tend to sell, of course, so sometimes you have to do it–and I did breed her to Flightline this time. But I was just in such awe of him as a racehorse that I jumped at the chance.”

Of course, even if you do everything right, it confounds all the odds to be so lucky with your one and only mare. But his education in the game, and then his own professional experience, together mean that nobody knows that better than Armstrong himself.

“It's been kind of weird,” he admits. “I mean, working with clients, I know how hard it all is. I love the breeding side, love consulting with clients on their whole operation, especially matings, and seeing and evaluating the offspring. I saw Helen develop the Courtly Dee family, and all those horses; and Emory developing hers; and Jack Swain has bred some really good horses too. He bred Exaulted (Twirling Candy) [who won the GI Shoemaker Mile in May], he bred Marley's Freedom (Blame) and Noble Bird (Birdstone), who were also Grade I winners. So I've gotten to see those horses, as well. And it just teaches you that it's a very difficult business.

“Clients have different goals. Sometimes they're wanting to do something shorter-term. But mostly I try to focus on finding quality, and value; and matings to bring out the quality, hopefully to produce a beautiful athlete that can sell well and run. It doesn't have to be either/or. I don't think there's as huge of a disconnect as some people say, between a sales horse and a racehorse. Integration was bred to be a racehorse. He's not huge, not a super-muscular, bulky horse. He's just an athlete with a great mind, a great walk, and really well put together. But people appreciated that, and he sold very well. Chic Shirine has been incredible, of course, has shown how blood can continue on. But it's obviously a super difficult game and, no matter what, you need a whole lot of luck. It's an amazing game and an amazing challenge.”

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Out of Secret Sigh (Tapit), Stop the Press is a half-brother to Summer Wind Equine's horse-in-training Pippi Longstocking (Frankel {GB}), who debuted a well-beaten sixth over the turf Sept. 16 at the Belmont at the Big A meet.

Second dam MGSW India (Hennessy) is also responsible for Japanese G1 Yasuda Kinen S. and G1 February S. superstar Mozu Ascot (Frankel {GB}). This is an extended female family which includes full-sibs GI Woodward S. hero To Honor and Serve (Bernardini) and GI Chandelier S. heroine Angela Renee, plus their half-brother GISP Elnaawi (Street Sense). TJCIS PPS

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12th-CD, $120k, Msw, 3yo/up, 7 1/2f, 6:24p.m. ET
Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Woodford Racing LLC partner-up on this $500,000 KEESEP procurement in PATOU ROAD (Quality Road), who will be getting a late start to the races for his powerhouse connections. In the barn of Pletcher, who has had a notably great year with the ownership group, the colt is out of Patou (Ghostzapper), herself a half-sister to GSW Moulin de Mougin (Curlin)–the dam of GSP Spicer (Quality Road); GISP Vionnet (Street Sense)–dam of MG1SW Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy); GSP Bronson (Medaglia d'Oro); MSW Alexis Tangier (Tiznow); and is a full-sister to GSW Schiaparelli (Ghostzapper). The second dam Cambiocorsa (Avenue of Flags) is the full-sister to Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (still listed in 2009) hero California Flag. This is the extended female family of GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy). Patou Road has been making appearances on the work tab in a steady fashion, and the morning line has him listed at 8-1 for this unveiling. TJCIS PPs

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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.

Resident @LanesEndFarms barn cat Bruce made sure to steal a few moments in the spotlight during Flightline Media Day at the farm! pic.twitter.com/gxCWRtxzlN

— TDN (@theTDN) November 16, 2022

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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'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit – Feathered, by Indian Charlie) arrived at the Versailles-based breeding operation less than 24 hours after he cemented his place in history in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. Accompanied by John Sadler's assistant and exercise rider Juan Leyva and barn foreman Cesar Aguilar, the undefeated son of Tapit came off the van at around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon and then strode down the barn aisle and into his new stall–which is already embellished with his nameplate–without so much as turning a hair.

“Part of the Flightline team was here to help him get settled in at the farm,” said Lane's End Stallion Seasons team member Chris Knehr. “They did a great job with him for his whole campaign and he's such a great horse to be around.”

Knehr added that Sadler and his crew are welcome back to the farm to visit their former trainee whenever they are in Kentucky.

“It's a credit to Sadler's team that he is the way he is,” Knehr said. “One of the things that is so striking about him is that he's got a very big, very intelligent eye. We've all seen that in really smart horses and Flightline has that. There is a class and an intelligence about him that he can take in the environment and adjust to it.”

This week, Flightline has spent a few hours every morning in the round pen before returning to his stall and relaxing throughout the day. Knehr said that Peter Sheehan, who took on the role of Lane's End Stallion Manager last year, is confident that the big bay will get to go out in his own paddock sometime next week.

“Luckily, because he is smart and is so good to work with, he's done very well with the transition,” Knehr said. “It's just kind of a gradual process of letting him down and getting him used to being a horse again.”

Soon, Flightline will be available for the many breeders clamoring to inspect the new stallion. On Wednesday, it was announced that the 4-year-old will command a fee of $200,000 in his first season.

According to Knehr, their team has already taken a deep dive into analyzing Flightline's pedigree and has sought the help of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants' Sid Fernando to begin sketching out guidelines for the types of mares that would suit him best.

“He has Dynaformer and Storm Cat far enough back to where there are a lot of options with him and the mares that can suit him,” Knehr explained. “From that standpoint, the bottom side of the pedigree allows us to try a couple of different things. Obviously being by Tapit, we can use that formula as well with mares that have worked well with Tapit and even some of his sons at stud.”

Flightline was campaigned through six straight career victories by breeder Summer Wind Equine in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. Many of those connections have been signing tickets on high-profile mare at Keeneland November in the hopes of sending most of those purchases to the new stud.

Summer Wind's newest additions include three-time Grade III winner and last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint runner-up Edgeway (Competitive Edge) for $1.7 million, SW Park Avenue (Quality Road) for $1.45 million, and Grade III winner Proud Emma (Include), who sold in foal to Charlatan, for $1 million.

With Terry Finley signing the ticket, Gage Hill bought champion Songbird's half-sister Song of Mine (Ghostzapper) for $700,000 and made several more purchases in partnership with Determined Stud including Salty as Can Be (Into Mischief), a half-sister to Grade I victress Salty (Quality Road), for $2 million as well as the winning Empire Maker mare Finding Fame for $575,000.

Earlier this week on Monday, a 2.5% fractional interest in Flightline sold for $4.6 million to kick off the Keeneland November Sale. Knehr said that the results from the auction more than fulfilled the syndicate's expectations.

“I've never seen [the sales pavilion] as packed as it was,” he said. “The final price was beyond our expectations. The idea was to get attention from people outside of the industry as well. He has a national awareness and with the idea of the Metaverse, we wanted to blend some things together and get some interest in that and for the sport in general. We haven't seen a racehorse like this in quite some time. The attention has been incredible, both from a fan standpoint and from the breeders.”

The post Flightline Settling In at Lane’s End appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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@keenelandsales September: WOW! Hip 97, a Quality Road colt consigned by @StonehavenSS, goes to $2.5 million! Purchased by @westpointtbred, Mike Talla, @woodfordracing & Stonehaven. pic.twitter.com/G9GeI6DWPr

— TDN (@theTDN) September 12, 2022

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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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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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