The Story of Saratoga Sale Grad Flightline

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00:00Flightline is a four-year-old Colt. We bought them at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

00:06The industry overall is excited because this horse could be one that they're talking about a hundred years from now.

00:13A potential star here, Flightline, wins by double digits while wrapped up.

00:18John and the horses he's had in the barn, Accelerate, Stellar Wind, Catalina Cruiser,

00:24and then for John to come in and say, I've never had a horse like this. It's like, really? What does this mean?

00:30Has the talent. Is this the next superstar?

00:34What sets him apart is he's just a special horse. He's got the insides of a champion.

00:39Looks like one of the big stars going forward.

00:42Flightline being what I'm going to call a generational horse.

00:46You dream to be undefeated. You dream to have that season that you hit all of the big bucket list races,

00:53but all roads will lead to the Breeders' Cup.

00:56The journey has been incredible. We all think that the journey is just beginning.

01:00All stars align. Like, it was my first time ever going to Saratoga and wanted to take in everything that I could.

01:07And so I asked David and Gordo, like, could I go to this sale? And it's going to work out perfect.

01:15And so he and his assistant were great with ushering me into that, gave me my book ahead of time.

01:23It was just a maze, like, just going into the facility for my first time. I had no idea.

01:29We're just set up, and I wanted to pick a horse, but that was not going to happen.

01:35But I was constantly texting Costa, John, and David's ear. I'm like, we need to get a horse.

01:44Then all of a sudden, they got in my ear the night of the sale that I was there.

01:50We've got a horse that we're going to make a bid on, and so just poke her face in.

01:56So John Sadler trains a flight line. I remember getting a call from John, I don't know, two or three weeks after we flew him out to California,

02:06and he said, I think we might have something special here.

02:09I think it turned out that John Sadler was right on, and he was correct to the nth degree.

02:16He came out of the Fasig-Tipton sale in August at Saratoga.

02:22He was a beautiful horse up at the sale, and we were lucky enough to get him.

02:28Our team, David and Gordo, and his team did all the looking and checking out, and I okayed it.

02:36We had seen Flightline quite a bit as a yearling.

02:40So when he showed up at Saratoga as Hip 80, it wasn't the first time that we'd ever seen him,

02:47but it put kind of the exclamation point on the fact that we needed to own him.

02:54Flightline is a four-year-old colt. We actually put a group of people together three years ago.

02:59We bought him at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

03:04And Bill Farish, I remember, loved this colt. He had a beautiful profile.

03:10A wonderful and a deep Phipps family pedigree.

03:14And we thought he was a real standout.

03:17So we don't usually spend a million dollars, but when you see one like Flightline,

03:22you need to call in all your forces, and I remember that night, that's exactly what we did.

03:27So it's three years later, but I will tell you, the investment and the wait have been well worth it.

03:33Yeah, that's going to be one that is solid in my memory books.

03:37First sale, Fasig-Tipton, absolutely beautiful.

03:41And then to come away from that, first experience with Flightline,

03:46and that we're a part of his journey, it was an experience of a lifetime.

03:50For the Fasig-Tipton August sale, it's a very good sale.

03:54A lot of top horses come out of there year after year, so it's a sale you've got to keep your eye on.

03:59We put a partnership together for this horse.

04:02It's great to get a bunch of people in on an expensive horse.

04:04Spreads the risk a little bit, and we've got a great group of owners in this horse.

04:09Jane Lyon, who's a breeder, wanted to stay in,

04:13and it then became our job to put a deal together to buy the horse.

04:18We knew he was going to be expensive.

04:21John Sadler had told me that he wanted to get the Aaronises in on this type of prospect,

04:27and Terry Finley is the easiest sell I ever have on anything.

04:31He's there with the money.

04:32Terry pulled in Antony Manganero from Sienna Farm.

04:36It was an easy partnership to put together because the people are wonderful,

04:42and here we are today.

04:45Flightline is a four-year-old colt.

04:48It took a little time for us to get him to the races.

04:50He got his first start in the spring of his three-year-old year.

04:53You really take it moment to moment, workout to workout,

04:58because you don't know the first race.

04:59Is he going to get out of the gate okay?

05:02And they're up.

05:04You watch the workouts and everything, but still, until pressure's on,

05:08and getting saddled, getting to the gate, getting out of the gate.

05:11They're approaching the quarter pole, and Flightline has opened up.

05:15And then seeing him go, and how his body went, and how fast and fluid.

05:20His name is Flightline, and he is long gone.

05:23What a dazzling display.

05:25I mean, literally, jaws on the ground.

05:27I don't even know if we really cheered very much,

05:30because it was just the awesomeness seeing him come around the trap.

05:34A potential star here, Flightline, wins by double digits while wrapped up.

05:39That was just the chills.

05:42Then race two, it's like, is he going to do that again?

05:46That was, for me, the big question is, can he do that again?

05:49John, and the barn, and everyone, Cesar Adolfo, keeping a really good eye on him.

05:54Flightline goes in, they're all sad.

05:57Seeing how Flavien intentionally had him kind of lean in on a horse

06:02when they were going around the second turn.

06:04Flightline, these two, stride for stride.

06:07And he did it again.

06:09Is this the next superstar?

06:12Another giant fox checked off.

06:14That horse, it looks like this is really happening.

06:18And then the Malibu opening day at Santa Anita.

06:21As Flightline turns it on at the top of the stretch,

06:25and he's going to turn this into his easiest win yet.

06:28Flightline.

06:30Just phenomenal, and he stepped it up.

06:32Congratulations to you guys.

06:34It is Flightline romping in the grade one Malibu.

06:39So we're at Belmont Park before the Metropolitan Mile,

06:43and we have Flightline in our midst.

06:46I think the industry overall is excited,

06:48because this horse could be one that they're talking about a hundred years from now.

06:53This is unbelievable.

06:55The intensity and the focus is just incredible.

06:59They're off.

07:01And Flightline has opened up a four-leg lead.

07:05An eighth of a mile to the finish, and Flightline is the leader.

07:09Flightline is in full flight.

07:12He had a slow start, but a terrific finish.

07:15We won the Metropolitan Mile.

07:16Terrific finish.

07:18We won the Metropolitan Handicap with maybe the best horse I've ever seen.

07:25Most times in life we have this vision and it never comes true,

07:29but this is even better than a dream.

07:32Toast Flightline, of course, and to compliment Jane and the entire team.

07:37Here, here.

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