MAJESTIC. There are so many ways one could describe the performance of Flightline on Saturday’s card at Del Mar, but we will keep it simple. He was awesome.

The four-year-old son of Tapit (Pulpit) out of the Indian Charlie (In Excess) mare Feathered is unbeaten in five starts, all of his three runs at stakes level being in Grade 1 races. As predicted at the end of last year in this column, the bay is now being spoken about in terms of greatness, and little wonder.

Son of a multiple champion sire, the $1 million yearling Flightline is out of a Grade 3 winner who was twice beaten less than a length in her attempts to win a Grade 1.

Both his third and fourth dams are Grade 1 winners, while his fifth dam Blitey (Riva Ridge), was runner-up at that level but, at stud, produced three top-level winners in the USA. In short, Flightline was bred to be good, and is living up to that expectation now.

As trainer Arthur Moore assured me at the weekend, having seen the new superstar in the flesh recently, there was no chance of this giant of a colt racing at two. Indeed, it was not until late April last year that Flightline, trained by John Sadler, appeared for his much anticipated debut, and what an impression he made, running out a winner by almost 14 lengths at Santa Anita.

Speculation

We did not see him again until September when he won at Del Mar, site of his weekend success, but this time his winning margin was just short of 13 lengths! Though he had yet to tackle stakes company, there was intense speculation at the time that he would go straight to the Breeders’ Cup. That was not to be, and instead he reappeared on December 26th in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes, back at Santa Anita.

This he won by an incredible 11 and a half lengths, recording a very fast time and certainly living up to the hopes and expectations of his conglomerate of owners, which includes his breeder amongst their number. After that win, Sadler was quoted as saying: “This is not an ordinary horse; this is a very special horse.”

How right he has proven to be. Almost six months passed before Flightline was back in action at Belmont, this time for the Grade 1 Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap. While his first two victories were over six furlongs, and his third over seven, he was rackling a mile for the first time. Different distance but the outcome was the same, and without a prep race for this feature he still ran out a six-length winner.

Incredible

At the weekend Flightline was upped again, to 10 furlongs, for the Grade 1 TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar, and he was breathtakingly good, winning by an incredible 19 and a quarter lengths in the hands of his regular pilot, Flavien Prat. This is footage that will be looked at again and again and again, and drew comparisons with none other than Secretariat. The race was run in extreme heat, but nothing was going to stop the world’s highest-rated runner.

John Sadler was no less delighted than he has been before, but he offered a measured response, saying: “It’s a thrill. It’s been my lifelong dream to have a horse like this, so I’m really grateful. Remember this was just his fifth race; that’s what makes it so special.”

The time recorded for the race on Saturday was 0.17 seconds outside the record set by Candy Ride, and don’t forget that the runner-up was this year’s Group 1 Dubai Gold Cup winner, Country Grammer.

The lightly-raced Flightline is now being put by for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and hopefully his presence will not frighten off the opposition. He runs for Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, and he was bred by Summer Wind’s Jane Lyon’s from a mare she paid $2,350,000 for at Keeneland, carrying her first foal, the subsequent winner Good On Paper (Ear Front).

Most valuable

With a belief that Flightline is the most valuable stallion prospect in the world, and given what he himself brought in the sale ring as a yearling, it is amazing how poorly some of his younger siblings performed when offered for sale.

Feathered’s three-year-old is named Voron (Pioneerof The Nile), and he actually made his way to Russia after being sold for $100,000 as a yearling. He won there last year.

There is a two-year-old own-brother to Flightline, named Olivier (Tapit), and he was unsold at $390,000 last year. He is followed by a yearling colt, Eagles Flight (Curlin), who is now being retained by his breeder, and a filly foal by Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), and it will come as no surprise that Feathered was covered this spring by Tapit.

A three-time winner including the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs, Feathered was runner-up in both the Grade 1 American Oaks and Starlet Stakes, in the latter case to Take Charge Brandi. Feathered is the best of the three winners from the stakes-placed Receipt (Dynaformer).

Receipt was the only stakes-performing offspring among the five winners produced by the top-class Finder’s Fee (Storm Cat), one of the leading racemares of her generation. At two she won the Grade 1 Matron Stakes, and the next year added the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes. Finder’s Fee won seven times in all, but she was a disappointing producer in her own right.

Fantastic Find

Finder’s Fee was the best of nine winning progeny from Fantastic Find (Mr Prospector). Like her daughter, she too was a high-class runner, the best of her six victories being gained in the Grade 1 Hempstead Handicap.

One of her other talented runners was the leading hurdler Tax Ruling (Dynaformer), successful in the Grade 1 Colonial Cup, and twice successful in the Grade 1 Iroquois Hurdle.

One of three Grade 1 winners produced by Blitey, Fantastic Find is a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Dancing Spree (Nijinsky), and Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes winner Furlough (Easy Goer). She is also a half-sister to the unraced Oh What A Dance (Nijinsky), dam of two Grade 1 winners and grandam of two more. A couple of the races won by Blitey were subsequently raised to Grade 1 status.

Tapit celebrated his 21st birthday this year, and completed another season at Gainesway Stud where a service cost $185,000. Flightline is one of his 96 graded or group stakes winners, 28 of which have been at the highest level. His tally of blacktype winners stands at 154, while he recently reached a landmark with his 300th stakes performer.