Flatlined shows signs of life in Old Friends
Flatlined didn’t.
The 4-year-old gelding was head and head for the early lead, shook off the competition to be in front alone heading into the far turn and then held off the fast-charging California invader Perfectly Majestic to win Thursday’s $150,000 Old Friends Stakes by a neck on a sun-kissed day at Kentucky Downs.
Trainer Scooter Dickey told jockey Miguel Mena in the paddock not to put Flatlined on the lead. But there’s a difference between being put on the lead and being on the lead.
“Scooter said, ‘I don’t want you on the lead,’” Mena said. “I said, ‘OK, I’m going to have to change my game plan.’ But I ended up there, and he was going easy. Nobody wanted it, and we took it. I think the first quarter was very easy, and then they came to me. From the half-mile pole, we were running home. He ran strong and put horses away. They just couldn’t keep up with him.”
“I said that at first, that I do not want him on the lead,” Dickey said. “But I said, ‘Do not send him.’ He said, ‘Oh, no, I won’t send him.’ I said, ‘You break and lay where you are and save something for that long stretch.’ He did it himself.”
Flatlined broke in front from post position 9, the extreme outside in the field after three scratches. Western Reserve, who wound up another nose back in third, had a short lead early before settling off Flatlined and hung in gamely throughout. Perfectly Majestic, ridden by three-time Kentucky Derby winner Kent Desormeaux, rallied strongly from near-last to just miss on a day when speed was a good thing to have.
“I think the winner just ran too fast,” Desormeaux said. “He caught ’em all but one. He gave them a gallant effort; I was very proud of him. The little guy I got to ride was running, he sprinted home. He recovered from every undulation where he missed a stride. You know, those Europeans, they watch where they’re going and they know where to hit. He hit and would stumble. A lot of horses would quit running, but he’d come up and keep running.”
Flatlined covered the mile and 70 yards in a hand-timed 1:42.98 (the course record is 1:41.70), paying $26.60 to win as the seventh choice in the field of nine.
He also was the fourth horse on the card to win after previously racing at Ellis Park.
It was another half-length back to fourth-place Bigger Picture, followed by Dac, Sweet Luca, Royal Son, El Jefe Grande and Slip By.
Flatlined, a $65,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, now is 4-2-2 in 14 starts, earning $196,605 with the $89,640 payday for owners Brian Hytrek, Rodney Paden and Ryan Kuhn.
“This horse was training unbelievable going into the race,” Mena said.
“He’s a tough horse. He doesn’t let horses go by, He trains good on dirt and runs good on turf.”
Flatlined did not race as a 2-year-old. Dickey received him late in the gelding’s 3-year-old season after he ran three times in the spring. He finally won in his second start on turf, but subsequently was competitive in dirt allowance races.
After finishing second in a second-level allowance race, Dickey put the gelding into Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Wise Dan. He finished sixth, losing by a total of 4 1/2 lengths, behind quality horses. After that he went wire to wire to capture an Ellis Park allowance that came off the turf by 6 1/4 lengths. That led to the Old Friends, which is for horses who have not won a stakes in 2016.
“This horse was training unbelievable going into the race,” Mena said. “ .. He’s a tough horse. He doesn’t let horses go by…. Scooter and I had big confidence on him.”
Total handle on Thursday’s 10-race card was $4,019,637, including $137,155 on track. Racing resumes with Saturday with Kentucky Downs’ showcase stakes headed by the Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup. There is a Pick-5 carryover of $52,089.
Source: Kentucky Downs (Jennie Rees)