Flightline breezes to Breeders’ Cup Classic win

Racehorse Flightline won the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday, finishing ahead of second-place competitor Olympiad, to remain undefeated in six career starts. Here’s what to know:

• Flightline entered the Grade 1, $6 million Classic as the favorite and in peak form heading into Saturday.
• Flightline’s 8 1/4 lengths over Olympiad is a Breeders’ Cup record, topping the mark set by longshot Volpino in 2002 and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015.
• Olympiad, Taiba, Rich Strike, and Life is Good followed Flightline, in that order.
• The big question now is whether Flightline, considered a generational talent, will race again.

Backstory

Flightline didn’t start training until December of his 2-year-old year, and competed in his first race just 10 days before the 2021 Kentucky Derby, knocking him out of Triple Crown contention. Flightline, now a 4-year-old, posted an impressive Beyer speed figure of 126 in the Pacific Classic, and continued a five-race string of excellence of 105, 114, 118, 112, and 126 leading into Saturday. For comparison, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 6 1/2 lengths in 2015, and his Beyer figure was 120, by far the best of his career.

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“One of those rare horses that only comes along every 20 years,” trainer John Sadler said.

How the Breeders’ Cup Classic went down

As expected, Life is Good went to the front, followed by Flightline, the two going stride for stride as if in a match race, leaving the rest of the field in the dust. But then Flightline found a gear that other horses simply don’t have. Not just other horses in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but other horses, period.

Running at an amazing pace and against the best competition he’s faced in his shortened career, Flightline raced to the finish line as if he was out for a morning breeze. Any lingering questions about Flightline’s greatness – and whether or not he should be mentioned with the best horses of all time – were answered definitively.

The lingering question is whether Flightline will race again. He already is destined to stand stud at Lane’s End Farm, just down the road from Keeneland and the rights, some estimate, could reach $100 million. The ownership group was rightly coy after the race, saying instead they want to enjoy the moment. Understandably so. It was an epic moment for them, for Flightline and really for horse racing, which needed a hero.

Highlight of the race

FLIGHTLINE CAN FLY! 🏇🏼✈️ #BC22

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 5, 2022

GO DEEPER

Faster than Secretariat? Meet the Roy Hobbs of horses, Flightline

(Photo: Horsephotos / Getty)