Zipse: How will Flightline be remembered?

In a little over a week, on opening day at Santa Anita, Flightline will be celebrated with the unveiling of a larger-than-life mural. Soon after, he will be named the 2022 horse of the year.

Can, or should, a horse who has made only three starts this year and six in his racing career be celebrated in such a way? More than a month removed from the Breeders’ Cup Classic, I still have very mixed feelings about Flightline.

I guess it was the late, great Bobby Frankel who began the trend. He trained Ghostzapper, who was undeniably one of the most brilliant horses of the 21st century. The 2004 horse of the year was beaten only twice in his career. As talented as he was, though, his racing resume was rather light. In a career that spanned four seasons, the son of Awesome Again raced only 11 times. In his unbeaten championship season, he raced only four times.

Now we have Flightline. Unbeaten in six career starts, the sensational son of Tapit was retired after his Breeders’ Cup Classic win to Lane's End Farm, where he will stand for a stud fee of $200,000. In what will be his championship season, he made it to the races one time less than Ghostzapper did 18 years before.

As a lifelong fan of racing, the practice of racing top horses less and less is a disturbing trend. This has never been truer than with Flightline.

Admittedly, I was never one to fully buy into the idea of Justify as an all-time great. The Triple Crown winner of 2018 was retired with an identical 6-for-6 career record to that of Flightline, and both champions won four Grade 1 races before their time on the track came to a screeching halt.

In my eyes, Justify was a very talented horse who accomplished plenty in a short amount of time, but he was never a horse who truly made me think of the great horses of my youth. Flightline, on the other hand, was different.

In six races, the John Sadler-trained Flightline looked like something I had not seen in American racing for a very long time. From his first start, a 13 1/4-length debut win at Santa Anita on April 24, 2021, through his 8 1/4-length romp in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, and in every race in between, he looked like a generational type of talent.

With a perfect record of utter domination and an effortless appearing ability to simply outrun his competition, I saw Flightline far differently than I did Justify. I believed this was a horse who someday could be compared with the superstars that graced the track in the 1970’s.

I feel blessed to have seen such a horse after all these years. I also feel robbed of not having the chance to see him more.

I get it. The economics are undeniable. Flightline is worth more off the track than he is on. In an industry that races to breed, rather than breeds to race, it was hardly unexpected news when he was retired after his championship-clinching win.

Still, I can’t help feeling somewhat cheated. His connections dangled the idea that he would come back to race in 2023. If he had, he would have been insured to the moon. Doesn’t the sport deserve to have this horse on the track next season?

Of course, the answer is no. His owners have every right to do with him as they please.

Personally, I will look back at Flightline in a couple of very different ways. I believe he was the most talented horse I have seen since the great Spectacular Bid was retired from racing in 1980. But I also will look back at his racing career as incomplete.

How can I compare him to the likes of Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid when he raced only six times? I can’t.

He will be the 2022 horse of the year, and there can be absolutely no doubt that he was the best horse who ran this year. But I hate the idea of giving the award to a horse who raced only three times.

As great a horse as I believe Flightline was, his career falls far short of what it could have been.

How will you remember Flightline?