Flightline fights off trouble to stay unbeaten, win Met Mile

Elmont, N.Y.

Flightline stayed unbeaten after he overcame a troubled start and then easily defeated his competition in the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap.

The margin of victory on a fast track at Belmont Park was six lengths, which means that Flightline won his four career starts by an amazing total of 43 1/4 lengths.

The lightly raced 4-year-old had not run for 112 days since his victory in the Malibu (G1) at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. Trainer John Sadler had to deal with minor physical setbacks as he prepared Flightline for the Met Mile which the ownership group had set as a major goal at the start of the season.

“With the spacing we had time, we weren’t rushed,” explained Sadler. “Once we had the little hiccup, we had plenty of time to train for this. And to his credit, he’s a very good trainer. If you want to go a minute, he’ll go a minute. You want to go faster, he’ll go faster. You know, he’s such an athlete. When you have spacing, you don’t really worry about it."

The race was not without drama after Flightline lunged out of the gate and broke a half-step behind the field. His regular jockey Flavien Prat moved him up along the inside but had to steady slightly and was forced to wait for a chance to move outside of Speaker’s Corner ,who was on the lead.

Sadler was not happy to see the poor start, but at the same time he wasn’t surprised.

“I wanted to throw up on myself. You got to sit there and watch and see what happens. Flavien said he’s getting a little bit too relaxed in the gate. So we might have a workout with him somewhere, you know from the gate in the future. We’ve been hesitant to do that because can you imagine working this horse from the gate.”

Prat was able to move Flightline to the outside and was in position on the hip of Speaker’s Corner who had set the first two fractions of 22.74 and 45.01 second for a half mile. After six-furlongs in 1:08.54, Prat asked Flightline to move and he quickly took control of the race and drew off to win the one-turn mile in 1:33.59.

“He overcame trouble that’s the storyline and had a rough trip got took up a couple of times, but still circled around and proved much the best,” said Sadler.

In addition to winning all four starts by open-lengths. Flightline was once again sent off as the odds-on favorite. He was less than even-money in every race and was .45-1 in Met Mile, returning $2.90 for a win bet.

Happy Saver rallied for second passing the early leader Speaker’s Corner who finished third. Breeder’s Cup Sprint winner Aloha West finished fourth.

Flightline has accomplished a lot in just four races.

Sadler summed it up, “I don’t think you can look up and find many horses that ran four times and won two group ones, you know, and especially the Met Mile, a prestigious race like this.”

And Prat added, “It seems like his talents are limitless.”

Sadler said that Flightline would fly back to California on Tuesday in preparation for his next start.