How team Flightline manages – and enjoys – big moments

Lexington, Ky.

His final worker of the morning was cooling out in the shed row. The generational talent in the padded stall closest to his office was done with his daily exercise and blissfully bedded down without issue.

With that, trainer John Sadler took a moment to indulge in a practice that has become more intentional for him in recent years. He sat down on the black bench outside of Keeneland’s barn 60, surrounded by the crisp, fall air and rust-colored foliage and breathed in the quiet around him. Less than 24 hours later, he would hold court for a throng of media wanting the latest sound bite on how it feels to have the weight of the racing world in his barn and on his shoulders. But on this morning, Sadler would have the desired time to reflect, to savor the journey that has put him and the best horse he’s ever trained in the eye of the storm.

“I think what’s been great for me at this point in my career – I’ve been around a long time – to have a horse this good is a real thrill, and I think I’m able to enjoy it more being a veteran trainer,” said the man with over 2,700 career victories and counting. “I enjoy the quiet moments this week. … It will be a little busier next week.

“He usually trains in the first set, so my moments with him are those first two or three hours in the morning,” Sadler added, gesturing to the bay face poking out of said padded stall. “And I really just enjoy every day.”

To be fair, the unbeaten phenomenon that is Flightline has made it exceptionally easy for all those around him to take in new levels of revelry.

In a sport that has been blessed with countless once-in-a-lifetime athletes producing feats for the ages, the Sadler trainee has inspired even those who have been there and seen all to feel something rarefied. His is a résumé that boasts just five career starts, two of which have come in 2022, but his name already is being put up against the likes of the legendary Secretariat in terms of historical brilliance.

He has yet to face a challenger who could seriously threaten him, never mind be confronted by a race scenario that put his trips to the winner’s circle in doubt. He is the closest thing to a rock star Thoroughbred racing currently has, as evidenced by the crowd that lined the Keeneland apron Saturday morning to witness the expected favorite for this weekend’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic put in his final serious breeze.

And so it is that the affable Sadler finds himself presented with perhaps the toughest task that comes with managing the horse many have already deemed the world’s best and, possibly, one of the greatest natural talents: trying to explain what it is about Flightline that makes him, well, Flightline. How has a horse who never ran in the Triple Crown races and had such limited career engagements inspired the most learned of pundits to come up with new ways to classify his ability in advance of a potential career swan song Saturday in the 10-furlong Breeders’ Cup Classic?

The answer, like many issues in the Thoroughbred industry, is multi-factorial but one whose layers have been a marvel to unearth. It has been an experience that has prompted his accomplished group of connections to make declarations that don’t normally flow from traditionally cautious horsemen, but the one thing they all come back to is the fact Flightline has allowed them to take up a position that has no peer.

“I think Paul Manganaro (whose uncle owns part of Flightline) in an interview put it correctly where he said you’re looking at a Picasso,” said Terry Finley, founder and president of West Point Thoroughbreds, which campaigns Flightline in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine and Woodford Racing. “And I think that Picasso and all those great artists, they’re so special and in demand because there aren’t lot of them, and they’re one in a generation. I think Flightline is too. I think he is probably once in quite a few generations.

“I don’t think anybody can put their finger on it exactly, but I think we all know that we’re in the midst of greatness. No one is trying to be arrogant or over the top. But you know, the ownership team in the different camps, we look at each other and say, ‘Why us?’ He’s the most valuable stallion prospect maybe ever.”

The sheer numbers Flightline has put up to date are indeed the type that cause jaws to slack. He has earned his five career wins by a combined 62 3/4 lengths with his “smallest” margin being his six-length triumph during his seasonal bow in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park on June 11. When he tried 10 furlongs for the first time in the Sept. 3 Pacific Classic (G1), the 4-year-old son of Tapit made a mockery out of questions about his stamina when he cantered to a 19 1/4-length triumph, breaking the record previously held by fellow Sadler trainee and 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Accelerate and earning the fastest ever Thoro-Graph number (–8.5) and second-highest ever Beyer Speed Figure (126), according to Daily Racing Form.

That Flightline can carry his speed going 1 1/4 miles as easily as he does traveling six furlongs invokes names like Hall of Famer Ghostzapper in trying to come up with apt comparisons. From the time Flightline arrived in his barn, Sadler said, he knew the line he would have to toe in terms of the colt’s development. He didn’t need to improve upon anything. He just needed to clear a path for the talent to ascend.

“What makes him different is I’ve had other horses, and usually you’re training horses to go up. With him I’m just training him to be him. I don’t have to make him any better,” said Sadler, who counts champions Accelerate and Stellar Wind among his top protégés. “He’s already there. When I say he’s doing his thing, it’s normal for him to be brilliant on a daily basis. So that’s been really fun.

“You know we got a call from April Mayberry (who broke and trained Flightline) early on, and she had breezed him down there in Ocala (Fla.), and she said she had a moment that she’s only had twice – with (Hall of Famer) Zenyatta and Flightline. She’s trained hundreds of horses down there and she had an a-ha moment before he ever got to me. So, we were tipped off well in advance.”

On paper, Flightline is merely living up to the lofty billing he has had since the moment he hit the ground on breeder and co-owner Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm.

A son of leading sire Tapit out of the graded-stakes-winning Indian Charlie mare Feathered, Flightline commanded a $1 million price tag when he was sold to West Point Thoroughbreds out of the Lane’s End consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. Though he had a classic-type pedigree and obvious physical attributes, simply getting him to the racetrack would prove one of the biggest hurdles.

From gash to glory

There is a picture Bill Farish of Lane’s End has on his phone, one that Sadler is glad he wasn’t shown until well after the fact.

The image is one that would make anyone’s stomach turn and cause the owner of any horse to about go into cardiac arrest. As a 2-year-old in Ocala, Flightline was startled just before going out for a breeze and backed himself into a stall latch. The resulting gash, which looked like a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie, broke out on his hip and necessitated the stitches that caused the trademark scar that zig zags its way down his right hind quarters.

“He got caught up in a door, and it was big, and it was ugly,” Sadler said of the wound that would sideline his future charge for more than 90 days. “They didn’t show it to me, the picture, until about a year-and-a-half later, which was really good, because when I did see it, … I was glad I didn’t see it. It was big, and it was deep.”

Sadler loves the mantra from tennis legend Billie Jean King that pressure is a privilege, but patience has been the biggest virtue when it comes to getting Flightline to achieve his current status.

Because of his physical setbacks, Flightline didn’t record his first timed workout until January of his 3-year-old season and wouldn’t make his first start until April 2021, when he showed up in a six-furlong maiden special-weight race at Santa Anita Park. Based on his work pattern and murmurs about what those in the know were seeing in the a.m. hours, the bay colt was the clear betting choice as he demolished his foes by 13 1/4 lengths in his first asking. It was enough to get the wheels rolling on the hype train, and enough to make those already well-versed in being around all-time horses brace themselves for what was coming down the pike.

“John has said it over and over again, but (Flightline) has never hid his talent. They knew right when he got to the barn that he was pretty special,” said Farish, whose Woodford Racing partnership co-owns Flightline and who will stand the colt at Lane’s End upon his retirement. “(Assistant trainer) Juan Leyva got on him the first day and was literally just jogging him and said, ‘This horse is just different than the rest of them.’ I was like, ‘You got that just from jogging?’ and he said, ‘Yes, he’s so powerful and so put together.’ Sometimes you hear things that get you excited about certain horses, but this was kind of hard for us to believe, because John was so impressed by him. And then when he worked him the first time, literally from the first work, he said, ‘This guy is special’.”

“When he got to racing, he didn’t leave much doubt,” Farish continued. “You see horses sometimes that win off by 10-12 lengths in their maiden race, and then they don’t run back to that. So when he came back and did it again and then again in the Malibu, it was just unbelievable to see. John said pretty early on, ‘My job is not to mess this up,’ ... which is very humble of him. But his team has done an incredible job.”

After his maiden victory, a foot problem kept Flightline sidelined until that September, when he resurfaced in an allowance optional-claiming test at Del Mar. When he threw down another master class in the form a 12 3/4-length victory, the next logical step would be to dive into deep waters, a challenge he shrugged off in condescending fashion by taking the Malibu Stakes (G1) last December by 11 1/2 lengths.

“I’m as in awe of him as everyone else is,” said Lyon, who was approached to stay in on her home-bred colt moments before he went through the ring as a yearling. “I told John I get cold chills whenever I see him too, just like everybody else. It’s just total amazement (watching him run). It’s almost impossible to describe how you feel when you see your horse just start moving past the competition and keep going.

“It’s like a dream, and you think you’re going to wake up. But we’re still dreaming, and still hoping for some more.”

By that point, the chatter about what Sadler had in his ranks had gone from hyperbole to fact, which made the sporadic nature of Flightline’s starts both tantalizing and fitful.

In February the colt was diagnosed with a strained hock that would push his seasonal debut back until the Met Mile. Giving into the frustration of having to miss so many marquee races would have been easy. Yet for Sadler, he has remained almost Zen-like in focusing not on the misfortune but rather how fortuitous is it being in the stratosphere of a transcendent horse.

“It’s tricky. Everybody wants to do more than they’ve done, but we’ve done what is right by this horse. So his path is his own,” Sadler said. “I don’t really look back. Sure, we’re all sorry he missed the Triple Crown, but it just wasn’t in the cards. It’s not about the calendar. It’s about how the horse is doing.

“He’s got his due with me. Whatever the rest of the world wants to do with it is up to them. But I’ll always know. Before he went to New York they would ask me, ‘How good is he?’ and I often wanted to ask some reporter, ‘Have you watched him run? Go with the eye test, look at his races.’ Sometimes you don’t have to go too deep to get it. And to me that race of his race in the Pacific Classic was one of the greatest performances any racehorse has put on in any race. You can debate a lot of things. Did he run enough? Were other horses from different generations better? But it was just one of those days where no horse in the world ever would have beat him that day, in my opinion, at any time.”

… Be happy it happened

Whether the journey of a lifetime ends on Saturday evening still is being determined.

In addition to his spot in the Lane’s End stallion barn being announced, a fractional interest in Flightline will be up for auction at the start of the Keeneland November breeding-stock sale next Monday. Even if a decision is made for Flightline to enter stud in 2023, he could remain in training after the Breeders’ Cup for a start in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28. 

“I’m sure we’ll get together after the race that Sunday and see what everyone is thinking,” Farish said of Flightline’s stud plans. “But as we’ve said all along, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We’re enjoying the ride too much right now.”

As he sat on the bench that cool, peaceful morning at Keeneland reflecting on the improbable career of a most incredible horse, Sadler, too, pondered what his own ride off into the sunset would look like. Leyva’s incredible horsemanship has made him the unquestioned heir to take over Sadler’s barn whenever the 66-year-old decides to retire. Where the legend that is D. Wayne Lukas famously talks about training until he falls off his pony one day and is harrowed into the track, let’s just say Sadler has a different plan for giving up his shingle.

“Juan is going to succeed me when I retire. And retire will be maybe doing the sales. I’m not going to go sit on a golf course,” Sadler said. “What I’ve been telling people is it’s just basically how I feel, the horses we’ve got. We bought the sales topper at Keeneland, so we’ve got good horses the pipeline. And I’ll know when the right time is. It’s not forever.

“I’m not going to die in the shedrow. I’m not going to do that. I’d like to be on a yacht off the coast of Spain or something. But we’ll just play that how it plays out. I don’t want to set a timeline, because there were a couple years where I said, ‘two more years,’ and then someone would say, ‘You’re still saying two more years.’ ”

Sadler still has goals he wants to achieve, of course, including getting Hall of Fame voters to see fit to have his name put on a plaque. The most pressing thing he is focused on now, however, is making sure his perspective doesn’t shift.

He recognizes the position he is in and the privilege that comes with it. No matter the amount of noise that bubbles up around him, he is grateful for every chance he gets to be in the moment.

“Sure, we feel pressure, because the expectations are through the roof,” Sadler said. “On the other hand, I’ve been doing this long enough that I’m able to march through it quietly. And that’s what we’re doing.”