Tag: Flightline

Flightline, seen here working out at Santa Anita in early July, will be the favorite in the first Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wager pool. That new future wager begins next week. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

New Breeders’ Cup Classic Future Wager Pool Closes Wagering Hole

Taking a page from their Churchill Downs counterparts, the Breeders’ Cup took a long-awaited, beneficial step for horseplayers, instituting future wagering on the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Breeders’ Cup future wager not only borrows a page from Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pools, it cribs the […]

Jack Christopher's Grade 1 Woody Stephens victory was one of the highlights of Belmont Park's 2022 Spring/Summer Meet. One of the most lucrative meets had a rise in average daily handle and a drop in overall handle from 2021. (Image: NYRA Photo)

Mixed Messages Define Belmont Park’s Spring/Summer Handle

First, the good news for Belmont Park and its just-concluded Spring/Summer Meet. The track enjoyed a 2% increase in average daily handle over 2021. The average daily handle came in at $13,437,509 for the 44-day meet that ended Sunday. According to the New York Racing Association, the average daily handle […]

Neige Blanche won the first of three closing-day stakes races at Santa Anita Sunday. That was her third stakes victory of the Southern California track's 2021-22 Winter/Spring Meet schedule. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Record Performances Headline Santa Anita Park’s Winter/Spring Meet

A training record for Phil D’Amato, a breakout riding season for Juan Hernandez, and a memorable first stakes win for the incomparable Flightline highlighted Santa Anita Park’s 2021-22 Winter/Spring Meet. The iconic Southern California track finished its 76-day meet Sunday with an 11-race card featuring three stakes races. One of […]

Flightline soared to a six-length victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, remaining undefeated and cementing his reputation as the best horse in North America. Image: Susie Raisher)

Slow Start? So What for Undefeated Flightline in His Met Mile Cruise

This time, courtesy of a slow break, Flightline managed “only” a six-length victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. But his reputation as a superhorse is alive and quite well. The latest convert? Jockey Junior Alvarado, who rode 2.75/1 second choice Speaker’s Corner to third in the Met Mile, one […]

Flightline clocked yet another bullet workout last Sunday at Santa Anita Park. He returns as the 3/5 morning line favorite for Saturday's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park. (Image: Zoe Metz Photography)

Flightline Plus Speaker’s Corner Equals a Memorable Met Mile

When Flavien Prat hopped off Flightline last December, after he had just dismantled the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths, the veteran jockey had what could be described as a religious experience. As any jockey can tell you when they’ve ridden a superhorse, the words sometimes don’t come […]

Jackie's Warrior won his fourth Grade 1 race with this May score in the Churchill Downs. He is the presumed favorite for Friday's Grade 2 True North Stakes in the Belmont Park Racing Festival. (Image: Coady Photography)

Champion Sprinter Jackie’s Warrior Points His Way to True North Stakes

Among the many marquee horses you’ll see at this weekend’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is reigning Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Jackie’s Warrior, the marquee name in Friday’s Grade 2 True North. The True North is one of five stakes on Friday’s 11-race card. That card is headlined by the Grade 1 […]

Flightline won't have Flavien Prat's services for the foreseeable future. The standout Thoroughbred is out indefinitely with a hock injury. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Injury Sidelines Star Sprinter Flightline Indefinitely

Flightline, horse racing’s undisputed star of 2022, will miss an undetermined amount of 2022 with what is believed to be a strained right hock. The Daily Racing Form reported the news Saturday, quoting trainer John Sadler saying that while X-rays were negative, the star sprinter’s gait was “not perfectly normal.” […]

Superstar sprinter Flightline will race next Feb. 5 in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Next race for Super Sprinter Flightline: The February 5 San Carlos Stakes

The question on when standout sprinter Flightline would run again got answered on Sunday when trainer John Sadler said he’d run in the Feb. 5 Grade 2 San Carlos at Santa Anita. The seven-furlong San Carlos fits Sadler’s early-season itinerary. It also allows the son of Tapit to stay home, […]

The 51st Eclipse Awards winners will be announced Feb. 10. Sixteen of the 17 finalist categories were announced Saturday. (Image: NTRA)

Few Surprises Revealed as Eclipse Award Finalists Announced

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and the Daily Racing Form announced the finalists for the 2021 Eclipse Awards on Saturday. The list of finalists did not include Horse of the Year candidates, for which Knicks Go is a virtual certainty. Instead, finalists in 16 of […]

Flightline was in his own zip code when he finished Sunday's Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita. Flightline's 11 1/2-length victory came with a 118 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest Beyer by a North American horse this year. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Flightline Unwraps 2021’s Best Beyer With Malibu Stakes Victory

As trainer John Sadler put it after watching his star runner Flightline on Sunday, “Christmas came a day late.” For Sadler and the connections of the 3-year-old son of Tapit, Flightline’s performance in Sunday’s Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Park was the gift that keeps on giving. And […]

Flightline won this Del Mar allowance by 12 3/4 lengths in early September. The flashy 3-year-old makes his stakes debut in Sunday's Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Fleet Flightline Sets Himself Up for a Malibu Stakes Cruise

It speaks volumes about Flightline’s frightening speed and fearsome reputation that Dr. Schivel, his erstwhile rival in Sunday’s Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Park, won’t be the morning-line favorite. The runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and the favorite in four of his eight career starts will be […]

Nobody has looked Flightline in the eye at the end of his first two races. He won a Sunday Del Mar allowance optional claimer by 12 3/4 lengths, clocking the best Beyer Speed Figure by an American horse this year. (Image: West Point Thoroughbreds)

As Del Mar’s Pick 6 Pool Soars, Flightline Proves He’s Still an Ace

Sunday’s penultimate day of Del Mar’s summer season not only brought a six-figure rollover to the track’s elusive Jackpot Pick 6, but the re-emergence of one of the country’s sprinting stars in Flightline. While horseplayers were setting the betting table for what figures to be a $6 million-plus pot for […]