Flightline

David Ingordo of Lane's End Bloodstock doesn't smile much, and when he does, it's usually a half-smile. But he does have a sense of humor. On Sunday afternoon, he was spotted at Keeneland outside the Lane's End consignment wearing a gray vest with the name "David DeVaux" embroidered on the chest, a nod and a wink to his trainer wife Cherie DeVaux. Ingordo likes to be incognito and shuns the spotlight whenever he can, but he's very much in that spotlight at the moment, thanks to Flightline (Tapit), who first...

Highlighted by the buzz around Flightline (Tapit)'s stellar GI TVG Pacific Classic performance in the track's signature event, Del Mar had record wagering and field size for the 31-day summer meet that ended Sunday, as well as a continued excellent safety record for the fourth consecutive year. There were no catastrophic injuries among 2,688 starters in the meet's 294 races. The 83rd summer meet at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) set new records for average daily handle with $18.69 million a day, an increase of 1.5% from last year's $18.41...

Edited Press Release Flightline (Tapit-Feathered, by Indian Charlie), who is rated among the best racehorses in history after his momentous 19 1/4-length victory in the GI Pacific Classic this month, will enter stud as the property of a syndicate at Lane's End Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career. From a prolific Phipps family, Flightline was bred by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm and is raced by Summer Wind in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing. A $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase from...

Thoro-Graph, which has been computing speed figures for 35 years, gave Flightline (Tapit) a negative 8 1/2 for his win in the GI TVG Pacific Classic, the fastest number it has ever assigned to a horse. The previous record was a negative 8, the figure Frosted (Tapit) ran when winning the 2016 GI Metropolitan H. Flightline was given a 126 Beyer figure. That is the second fastest Beyer number ever, trailing only the 128 that team gave to Ghostzapper (Awesome Again) when he won the GIII Philip H. Iselin H....

After watching her undefeated homebred sensation Flightline (Tapit) demolish the GI TVG Pacific Classic field by 19 1/4 lengths Saturday, Jane Lyon was in just as much awe as the rest of the racing world. "It was unbelievable," Lyon said. "The fact that I bred him almost doesn't come into my mind. I don't take credit for any of that because I think a horse like this is a gift. After not running until a very late 3-year-old, he is just seems like he is getting better every day and...

Kosta Hronis joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to share what the experience is like to be a co-owner in superstar Flightline and noted that there was a "great possibility" that the son of Tapit would race in 2023 rather than beginning his stallion career.

It appears that the door is open more than just a crack when it comes to whether or not racing's superstar Flightline (Tapit) will race next year as a 5-year-old. Appearing as the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's Thoroughbred Daily News Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, Kosta Hronis, a co-owner of Flightline, said there was a "great possibility" that Flightline would race in 2023 rather than beginning his stallion career. "Just like with Stellar Wind (Curlin), which we left on the track an extra year,...

Undefeated Flightline (Tapit) closed as the 4-5 favorite following the completion of betting Monday in Pool #2 of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wager. After a 19 1/4-length victory in Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Flightline led the listing of 23 horses and one "all others" wagering interest in the second Future Wager pool for the $6-million Longines GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at Keeneland Nov. 5. Pool #2 of the Future Wager generated $437,147 in total handle, more than doubling the $205,349...

Following Flightline (Tapit)'s jaw-dropping victory in the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar Saturday, breeder Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Farm has decided to withdraw the star colt's half-brother by Curlin from next week's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The yearling, who is named Eagles Flight, had been catalogued as hip 243 with the Lane's End consignment. "I had a feeling when Flightline did what he did [in the Pacific Classic] that it was going to be pretty hard for her to part with him," said Lane's End's Bill Farish, confirming...

Was Flightline's Pacific Classic the best performance since Secretariat's Belmont (as Bill Finley asked in The Week in Review in Monday's TDN)? Although it was great, the obvious answer is no, because we have witnessed many incredible races over the last nearly 50 years. But comparing and contrasting racehorses (and their best performances), and wondering how they stack up against each other, is part of what makes horse racing exciting and interesting. Secretariat's stupendous effort in the last leg of the Triple Crown was very likely the best performance by...

Trainer John Sadler said superstar Flightline (Tapit) came out of his devastating 19 1/4-length romp in Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic in good order. "We're literally talking 14 hours [since the race] but this early, he looks perfect," Sadler said. For Sadler, the most impressive aspect of Flightline's record rout was the way he opened up on the rest of the field. "Obviously, I was thrilled about him putting them away on the [far] turn," Sadler says. "That was really exciting, probably the most fun part. I was just so...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley Some more thoughts on Flightline (Tapit) while trying to come up with the right superlative to describe his win in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Words like spectacular, stunning, sensational just don't seem good enough. (*) It's tempting to try to compare him to Secretariat. The thing is, that's simply impossible. One has run just five times, the other ran 21 times, won the Triple Crown, was a two-time Horse of the Year and had his picture on the covers of Time, Newsweek...