Get Ready, The Flightlines Are Coming

What kind of sire will Horse of the Year Flightline turn out to be? The first hints are right around the corner.

Greenwell (Flightline) will make his debut Friday at Churchill Downs in the fifth race for trainer Mark Casse. He will be the first offspring of Flightline to start in North America. The next day, the filly House Boat Party (Flightline), will run in the sixth race at Churchill for trainer Brian Lynch. She will be the first Flightline filly to start in the U.S. Both races are at five furlongs.

“This colt, from day one, he showed that he was special,” Casse said. “For us, it's a process, kind of like going to Little League and then you go to the minor leagues and he went boom, boom, boom with each step. He's come to hand quickly and he's done everything right. You can see where he worked in 59 and change and that was pretty impressive In another work, I worked him out of the gate and he kind of broke bad and then he caught up with another horse and the horse he outworked was Riley Mott's first time starter by Munnings (How's Al Today) that won last week. He worked out of the gate with that horse and kind of played with him.”

Casse conceded that the distance may not be long enough for a son of Flightline.

“The distance is a little short, but I didn't want to wait,” he said. “He's ready to run. I like getting them started. If not, I would have had to wait a couple of weeks. I just wanted to get him started.”

Owned by Greg Tramontin's Greenwell Thoroughbreds LLC, Greenwell was a $500,000 Keeneland September purchase.

House Boat Party is a homebred owned by Flying Dutchman, the racing and breeding operation of the Boersma family. Her dam is Lake Garda (American Pharoah).

“When the Boersmas bought that Flightline share at Keeneland a few years back, we decided we'd buy a nice mare to breed to him,” said Flying Dutchmen President Hunter Rankin. “We bought a mare named Lake Garda and she was in foal to Uncle Mo. She produced a nice filly, one that hasn't run yet. House Boat Party was the resulting foal of that deal. It was kind of the kickoff to this whole Flying Dutchmen enterprise.

“She is a very attractive filly and has done everything right in the morning and we're excited to run her. If you had any concerns, it would be the five-eighths distance. But she's shown some speed in the morning. We definitely think she'll be better the farther she goes, but she's ready to run and the race is there. I always think if they are ready that waiting for the next one can be a curse. She's done everything right and we are excited to run her.

“You hear nothing but great things about the Flightlines in terms of what people have. We have three that we either bred or bought. This one is the farthest along, but we like them all. It's really exciting, especially for us because we bought a couple shares in the horse, so we are invested on all sides. We are excited, as everybody else is, to see them run.”