Del Mar

Pacific Classic (Grade 1)

THEY say no one remembers who was second.

For the 2022 Pacific Classic, no one will because it was just one big, fat furlong of fresh California air.

It was a performance that drew comparisons with Secretariat’s legendary Belmont Stakes win in 1973 as Flightline passed his sternest test yet with flying colours.

Flightline has only raced five times, but his winning distances add up to 62 and three-quarter lengths. The Pacific Classic was his third win in a Grade 1 and he passed the post clear of the Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer, eased down, winning by 19 and a half lengths in a time of 1m 59.28secs, just 0.17secs off Candy Ride’s track record in the 2003 Pacific Classic.

Flightline was expected to win, despite never having raced further than a mile, but there was still a slight doubt over the distance, if he raced too keen.

The four-year-old son of Tapit was in the race right from the start, even though horses on either side bumped him leaving the gate. He took the early lead on the outside of longshot Extra Hope, who headed Flightline as the field headed for the first turn.

Racing wide with Flavien Prat seeking to keep him settled, Flightline moved in earnest at the five-eighths pole and took command.

It looked like a sprinter had just dropped into the race as he suddenly went five clear in a few strides with the rest of the field struggling to close. He ran six furlongs in 1m 9.97secs.

Into the straight, distance worries were soon banished as Prat pushed him further clear and he could afford to ease up in the final half furlong. Country Grammer finished second, seven lengths in front of Royal Ship in third.

“When we went into the final turn, he was travelling so well I asked him to pick it up a little bit,” said Prat. “As soon as I looked back and saw how far in front he was, I wrapped up on him.”

Flightline is owned by a partnership of Hronis Racing LLC, in whose colours he races, Siena Farm LLC, his breeders Summer Wind Equine LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, LLC.

He went through the ring at Fasig Tipton’s August 2019 sale for $1,000,000, bought by an agent for West Point Thoroughbreds.

A miracle

“You can’t expect this. You can’t wish it. And to have it happen and for him to continue to grow like he is, better and better and better, it’s just a miracle,” his emotional breeder, Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Equine, told BloodHorse.

The brilliant but fragile colt shows the scars of an earlier injury on his hind quarters when hitting a fence and also missed the early season with a muscle strain in his right hock in mid-February.

Flightline earned a massive Timeform rating of 143 putting him ahead of Arrogate in recent years who was 139.

Only a handful of horses in Europe have bettered it in Timeform’s experience: Frankel (147), Sea-Bird (145), Brigadier Gerard and Tudor Minstrel (144).

The big question remains now how well Flightline will cope with a more stamina-requiring surface at Keeneland in November compared to the faster, drier surface in California. How would he cope with a wet track? And he will be facing stronger opposition in the likes of Epicenter and Olympiad.

Sadler commented on Saturday that the colt needed his races spaced out. “This horse is so brilliant you have to space his races a little bit apart because he is his own category. I know him well, and I know what’s best for him is to build up his energy between one race to the next.

“We’d all want to see him run more times, but when he runs like this, you don’t need to run him more times. Enjoy the ones that you run in.”

It is was fairly certain that he would train the colt straight to the Breeders’ Cup and there are still hopes he may run in 2023.

For now, the abiding memory from Saturday was the sight of Grade 1 horses being asked to quicken at that sixth furlong before the bend, and Flightline running away from them, still on the bridle.

Trevor Denman, famous for his “this is unbelievable” Zenyatta call in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup, again hit the perfect commentary. “Take a good look at this cos you’re not gonna see this too often, maybe never again.”

Rest of the card

There were two Irish-bred winners of the Grade 2s on the card as the mile-and-three-furlong Del Mar Handicap Presented By The Japan Racing Association went to the Belardo four-year-old Gold Phoenix, again ridden by Flavien Prat, this time for Phil D’Amato. He won by a head from Master Piece.

The same combination combined to win the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile Stakes with favourite Hong Kong Harry, a five-year-old gelding by Es Que Love.

The Grade 2 Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby went to the Reddam Racing-owned Slow Down Andy as the son of Nyquist beat the Noble Mission colt Spycatcher by half a length for Doug O’Neill.