airline completed his final training session in his hometown for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on November 5th Keeneland with a demonstration of controlled force by a six-eighths-mile train before dawn on October 22nd Santa Anita Parkmeasured in 1:11 4/5 by official watchmakers.
As usual, assistant trainer and former Breeders' Cup winner Juan Leyva was aboard Flightline for trainer John Sadler's 4-year-old son Carpet began his work at the five-eighths pole and continued past the wire to the seven-eighths pole, most of the time only being followed by the flashing lights attached to Leyva's helmet.
“These lights move awfully quick,” said Bob Baffert, who watched Flightline’s work from a box seat in the clubhouse next to Sadler.
Saturday's work was Flightline's fifth formal exercise within a week since his 19 1/4 tour de force at the Pacific Classic (G1) on Sept. 3 sea. This was his second start of the year for owners Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, following his six-day ride in the Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on June 11 Belmont Park.
“I like to think of the Malibu as really his first start of the season,” Sadler said, referring to the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1), which was run on December 26, 2021, Santa Anita’s opening day. Flightline won this seven-eighths-mile race by 11 1/2 lengths.
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What has become both stunning and predictable: The bay stallion's Saturday work closely resembled his October 15 move, which in turn closely resembled his October 8 move, all of which took place around 6:40 a.m. PT.
Sadler peered at the backstretch bars deep in the shadows and stopped his watch at :12 2/5 for the first eighth and :24 2/5 for the first quarter as the lights on Leyva's helmet reached into the back of the home turn .
“This is where it starts,” Sadler warned.
Right on cue, Flightline and Leyva threw an eighth in :11 2/5 around the turn and scored three eighths in :35 4/5. They reached the eighth pole in :47 4/5 and the finish line in 1:00 1/5, all under Sadler's watch, before reaching the seven-eighths pole in the official 1:11 4/5. Sadler brought it two ticks slower.
“It was as good a move as we had before the Pacific Classic,” Sadler said. “What really stood out to me today was how, as he passed the finish line, he launched himself into the last eighth of the corner.”
John Sadler smiles after Flightline's work as Bob Baffert looks on in the background
Braking Flightline is sometimes similar to trying to stop a runaway train. Leyva sent his subtle “Whoa” signals as they covered seven furlongs in 1:24 2/5 and a mile in 1:37 3/5, again under Sadler’s watch.
“I really liked this work because this track is much deeper and more tiring than Del Mar's,” Leyva later said. “You’ll see how this plays out in two weeks.”
Fair warning. Flightline has impressed its local audience so much that only two horses from Santa Anita are aiming for the classic – the Bob Baffert pair Taiba And Country grammarian . Scorching Rod Charlie from Doug O'Neill's Santa Anita stable, has been on the road since the spring and is already preparing in Keeneland.
Gary Newborn, the private clocker and racing director of Zedan Racing, owner of Taiba and co-owner of Country Grammer, looked up from his watch as Flightline galloped into the darkness and sighed, “We need a bigger boat.” This line is from the Killer shark movie “Jaws”.
Still, the opposition, at least on paper, is formidable, led not just by the Baffert troops and Scorching Rod Charlie, but by others as well Life is good , epicenter , Olympics , Cheerful saver and possibly Affluent strike . Sadler was asked which of them worried him the most.
“They are all nice horses and very successful,” replied the trainer. “But I think I’m in a situation where they need to be worried about me.”
Flightline is expected to depart Santa Anita in a van in the early hours of Sunday morning, Oct. 23, departing from Ontario International Airport, 25 miles east, for a FedEx cargo flight to Louisville, Kentucky.
Rene Quinteros, one of Sadler's experienced foremen, is supposed to accompany Flightline to the airport and then hand him over to FedEx employees. Using a separate commercial flight, Cesar Aguilar, Sadler's other foreman, will travel to Louisville in time for Flightline's arrival and take him by van to Keeneland, on the western edge of Lexington. They will be picked up in Keeneland on Sunday afternoon by horse groom Adolfo Correa, while Sadler and Leyva's scheduled flight to Lexington should be there in time to greet their horse.
“We’re ahead of the game,” Sadler said. “He’s ready to run, which gives us some flexibility as to when we would work at Keeneland, just enough for him to get a feel for the track. “It depends on the weather.”
Back in Sadler's barn, after Flightline's work, everything went as usual. After Leyva broke away from the turn, Quinteros led the colt around the drag ring, sometimes turning off the path onto the wide, stable road. There, Flightline sniffed the damp morning air and scanned the sky for his favorite birds while Quinteros indulged his every whim until it was time for Correa to give the substantial colt a bath.
Flightline and Rene Quinteros
With the possibility of stud retirement hovering over Flightline, Sadler was asked if his support viewed this last day of work as a melancholy farewell to their stable star.
“Not really, because even if he goes to stud, there's always a chance he'll stay in training for the Pegasus,” Sadler said, referring to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) on January 28th Gulfstream Park.
The breeding season traditionally begins in February. When Flightline retires, he will be based at Lane's End Farm, just a few miles from Keeneland.
“One way or another I think he'll come back here after the Breeders' Cup anyway,” Sadler added. “But at the moment I can’t imagine him being gone. I could cry.”
