Breeder Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm boasts two high-powered producers, mares whose progeny have left their mark on the sport’s history in their own ways. Littleprincessemma, purchased by Lyon when her Pioneerof the Nile colt was 2, is part of an elite sorority that currently boasts only two members: that Pioneerof the Nile colt, named American Pharoah, won the Triple Crown in 2015. Another superstar mare Feathered, a graded stakes winner herself, produced a Summer Wind-bred superstar in Flightline, who blew his competition away to put an exclamation point on an undefeated career in the 2022 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Breeding a Superstar

On the racetrack, Feathered was a graded stakes winner, taking the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes on the turf at Churchill Downs, and Grade 1 stakes-placed, finishing second in both the Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos and the American Oaks at Santa Anita Park. Her racing career done, Lyon purchased the filly in foal to War Front for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. For the next breeding season, Lyon sent Feathered to leading sire Tapit.

Even though a lung infection hindered his chances for an ideal Triple Crown classics campaign, 2004 Wood Memorial Stakes winner Tapit has gone on to sire Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016), Tapwrit (2017), and Essential Quality (2021). His legacy of stamina has made him one of the sport’s leading sires and a nice fit for Feathered, their pairing producing a bay colt with a smidge of white on his forehead.

Brilliant 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Foaled on March 14, 2018, Lyon named the colt Flightline.

Entered in the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, Flightline impressed in the sales ring, hammering down at $1 million to bloodstock agent David Ingordo buying on behalf of Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds and partners. Lyon bought a share of Flightline, racing him in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing. To start Flightline’s education as a racehorse, he went south to Mayberry Farms in Ocala, Fla., where April Mayberry prepared the Tapit colt for California trainer John Sadler.

Early on, Feathered’s son showed that he was special: “We got a call from April Mayberry [who broke and trained Flightline] early on,” Sadler told Alicia Hughes in a story for Horse Racing Nation in 2022. “She had breezed him down there in Ocala, and she said she had a moment that she’s only had twice – with [Hall of Famer] Zenyatta and Flightline. She’s trained hundreds of horses down there and she had an ‘A-ha’ moment before he ever got to me.”

Much like his sire, Flightline has a high-energy personality, which tended to make him accident-prone as a young racehorse in training. He was getting tacked up ahead of a scheduled breeze one morning at Mayberry Farms when he spooked and backed into a stall door latch. That opened up a deep gash on the colt’s hip, a significant injury that took 90 days to heal. The stitches required to close up the injury left an L-shaped scar on his right hind. Veterinarians installed a port on his neck for the antibiotics, which also left a patch of white hairs, a reminder of the incident that delayed Flightline’s debut until his 3-year-old season.

Additional injuries – a cracked hoof and a leg strain – prevented him from making his debut at age 2, but Flightline would show that his racing career was well worth the wait.

Finding His Feet

Sent west to Sadler’s barn at Santa Anita Park, Flightline recorded his first official workout in January 2021, with his debut to come in April 2021. With Flavien Prat in the saddle, the Tapit colt faced six others in a six-furlong maiden special weight race. The form chart shows that Flightline was on the lead at every call; the replay shows the turn of foot that took him from leading by 4 ½ lengths at the half-mile mark to an easy 13¼ lengths at the finish line, Prat sitting still in the saddle as the colt powered away to the easy win.

The delay in his debut meant Flightline would miss the 2021 Triple Crown season, Sadler waiting until the following September for the colt’s second start. The six-furlong allowance-optional claiming race at Del Mar echoed that first start: he raced in second early, seized a clear lead with a quarter of a mile to go, and then surged away from the field with ease, again winning by double-digit lengths. That second start made it clear that Flightline had the potential to be a star and his performance in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita announced that to the world.

In his first stakes try, Flightline faced a field that included the speedy Baby Yoda; Dr. Schivel, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby and runner-up in the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint; and Iowa Derby winner Stilleto Boy. In traffic early, Prat sent the Tapit colt to the lead, kept him about a length ahead of the field through the turn, and then gave his horse the cue. With multiple graded stakes winners chasing, Flightline poured on the speed and crossed the finish line 11½ lengths in front.

He closed his 3-year-old season with three wins in three starts, with his combined winning margin 37 ½ lengths. Already a sensation in his short first season, Flightline’s 4-year-old campaign would take this blossoming star to a new level.

Crowning a Champion

Sadler initially pointed Flightline to the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes in early March at Santa Anita, but a hock issue pushed his first start of 2022 back to Belmont Stakes day in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap. Colloquially known as the Met Mile, the Grade 1 was his longest race to that point, eight furlongs against a field that included 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Aloha West; Grade 1 winners Speaker’s Corner and Happy Saver; and Informative, who took the 2021 Grade 3 Salvator Mile.

The Met Mile would prove to be his toughest test yet. Breaking a step slow, Prat had to take Flightline back and steady him as Speaker’s Corner gunned to the lead.

“He didn't break well but soon after that he was traveling well — just an incredible horse,” Prat told the BloodHorse. “Once he was behind the other horse, he was comfortable.”

Around the sweeping Belmont Park turn, Prat gave the colt his cue and Flightline darted away from Speaker’s Corner to win by six lengths. Another captivating performance and another step closer to the goal of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course.

Flightline after dominating the Pacific Classic.

Back in California, Sadler prepared Flightline for his target, the Classic, with a try in the 1 ¼-mile TVG Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar. Again, the Grade 1 attracted its share of stakes-winning competition, including Country Grammer, winner of the 2022 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline; and Express Train winner of the Santa Anita Handicap presented by Yaamava' Resort & Casino. Flightline made his longest test yet look like no more than a morning workout. Prat wrestled with the colt to keep him settled, and then at the five-eighths pole, the horse put himself on the lead and put on a show.

He was 10 lengths ahead after a mile and 13 clear in early stretch. At the finish line, Flightline was 19¼ lengths ahead of the closest horse, Country Grammer, who was seven lengths ahead of the rest of the field.

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

The stunning victory made Flightline the horse to beat in the 1¼-mile Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. In his capstone start, on one of racing’s biggest days, the Tapit colt had stiff competition.

Flightline, outside, surges past Life Is Good in the Classic. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Life Is Good had taken the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in 2021 and the Grade 1 Whitney and Woodward Stakes before his trip to the 2022 Breeders’ Cup. Taiba had won both the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby and Pennsylvania Derby and was just nosed out by Cyberknife in the TVG.com Haskell Stakes. Hot Rod Charlie had finished second in both the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve and Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets before returning at four to win the Grade 2 Lukas Classic Stakes. Epicenter was second to Rich Strike, also a Classic contender, in the 2022 Kentucky Derby and went on to win the Runhappy Travers Stakes before trying older horses at Keeneland.

Leaving the starting gate, it was all Life Is Good and Flightline. Irad Ortiz Jr. put Life Is Good on the lead within strides of the break and Prat followed on Flightline, shadowing his moves around the first down and down the backstretch. Life Is Good was 2½ lengths in front at the six-furlong mark, but Flightline was not about to let Life Is Good get away from him. Around the far turn, the Tapit colt pulled even with his rival, the two head to head as they entered the stretch.

If anyone on hand at Keeneland for the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic expected a duel, they got one for a handful of strides before Flightline put on a record-breaking show. Suddenly, he was three lengths ahead and then five. At the finish line, he was the winner by 8¼ lengths, a Breeders’ Cup Classic record.

“Brilliant is his normal. He didn't disappoint. He never has. He’s a remarkable, remarkable horse,” John Sadler told the BloodHorse after the race. “In the words of [late trainer] Bud Delp, he’s one of the best horses to ever look through a bridle. He’s just that good.”

Flightline looking every bit the star after the Pacific Classic. (Eclipse Sportswire)

“To have a horse like Flightline in our lifetime is just unbelievable and great,” co-owner Kosta Hronis said after the Classic. “But, more importantly, Flightline is so blessed to have John Sadler and his team because the patience he had with Flightline and what he did to teach him, he was a fast horse all the time. He was quick and fast. And he wanted to run full blast all the time.”

A few days after his Breeders’ Cup victory at Keeneland, Flightline boarded the van for one more ride, this time to the next phase of his life, becoming a stallion at Lane’s End — his first foals hit the ground in 2024.

At the 2023 Eclipse Awards, Flightline was named Horse of the Year and Champion older dirt male, capping off his championship season with the sport’s highest honors.

As one of the sport’s most dominant racehorses in recent history, Flightline's speed, strength, and versatility have earned him comparisons to all-time greats like Secretariat. Beyond the statistics and accolades, this champion captivated fans and professionals alike, a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon whose brief career left behind mesmerizing performances that won’t soon be forgotten.