Greenwell, Flightline's 1st starter, finishes 2nd on debut

Greenwell, the first starter by undefeated Breeders' Cup Classic winner Flightline, finished second as the even-money favorite in his debut Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

Balloteer ($12.04), a Jimmy DiVito trainee ridden by Luis Saez, was sent to the lead and opened up an open-lengths advantage into the turn while setting an opening quarter time of 22.43 seconds. Greenwell was wrangled between horses early, a few lengths from the lead, but was sent by jockey Jose Ortiz to make a run on Balloteer into the turn.

Greenwell made up some ground approaching the stretch and had aim at the quarter pole, but raced greenly down the lane and never looked likely to reel in Balloteer, who set the half mile in 45.06 and won by two lengths in a time of 57.00 seconds for the five furlongs on fast dirt. Midnight Still (4-1) made a run in the lane but missed the place, crossing the wire a head behind Greenwell.

Balloteer is by another first-crop sire, 2022 Preakness winner Early Voting, out of the Distorted Humor mare Just Joking. He is owned by Doubledown Stables, and sold for $475,000 at OBS March this year. Trainer DiVito signed the ticket. Early Voting has gotten a quick start at stud: Balloteer is already his sire's fourth winner and all four of those winners have graduated on debut.

Greenwell, a $500,000 purchase at Keeneland November last year, is trained by Mark Casse for Greenwell Thoroughbreds. Though his debut was highly anticipated due to him being the first Flightline foal to start, his pedigree suggests that time or distance could help move him along. Flightline himself did not debut until April of his sophomore season. His dam, the War Front mare Cambodia, debuted in October of her 3-year-old year and won graded turf routes at ages 5 and 6.