'Brilliant is his normal' - Flightline trainer bullish despite poor Cup record

The trainer of unbeaten superstar Flightline has described his Breeders' Cup Classic favourite as a "special horse" as he shrugged off questions about his own poor record at this weekend's meeting.

Unbeaten in five races, John Sadler's Flightline melted stopwatches and broke ratings records when he hacked up in the Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar last time, finishing 19 and a half lengths clear of Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer. He is the highest-rated dirt performer in the history of Racing Post Ratings on 140, just 3lb behind the mark set by Frankel.

Bookmakers are going no bigger than 1-2 about his chance in Saturday's Classic, despite a handful of top-class rivals. The idle chat among press and insiders at Keeneland this week suggests very little fear Flightline could be beaten, with most seeing the race as a $2 million coronation.

Sadler, though, has welcomed back just a single winner from 54 Breeders' Cup runners, courtesy of Accelerate in the 2018 Classic. There has been heartbreak along the way, with Catapult run down by Expert Eye in the 2018 Mile, while the owner of Whatsthescript had been angry at his defeat when third behind the great Goldikova in 2008. More recently, Tripoli was only seventh in last year's Classic having won the Pacific Classic, albeit without showing anything like the same quality as Flightline.

However, the veteran trainer, who has sent out thousands of winners during a 40-year career, has insisted those experiences aren't in his mind as he prepares Flightline under such a huge burden of expectation, feeling he should instead be credited for getting so many horses to the meeting.

"They used to kind of make a deal about the fact I hadn't won that many Breeders' Cup races," he said.

"I got a lot of horses here, so we were developing a lot of horses. They may not have been the best horse. When you're third to Goldikova or something like that, with a California horse, you've done really well. I have a long track record and I'll stand by that."

Flightline and his exercise rider Juan Leyva walk around the barn after exercise at KeenelandCredit: Edward Whitaker

The expectation with Flightline is unlike anything Sadler has experienced, but he said: "I'm a veteran guy, I've been doing this a lot of years, so I'm used to this kind of environment and looking forward to it. I've got the horse well prepared and he's a top horse, so we'll let all that take care of itself."

Indeed, the trainer certainly could not be accused of downplaying those expectations.

"His performance in the Pacific Classic is one of the best races ever run by an American racehorse in any generation. That's undeniable, that last performance," he said.

"It's very exciting. This is a horse that's so rare. You just don't see them every day, so it's a big thrill and I'm honoured to be training him. When we look at our speed figures here in the US, he runs numbers that no horse has really ever run. He's a special horse."

Having been handed stall four of eight on Monday evening – which Sadler described as a "perfectly good" draw – Flightline was once more on the track at Keeneland on Tuesday morning, galloping a circuit under restraint at 6am and looking like a big, bay mass of power. Caution was cast to the wind as pundits compared him to Secretariat.

Asked to describe his qualities, Sadler added: "He's very fast and he can carry it. The standard is, you think of a horse that's really fast, that he won't be able to go further. This horse is fast and he's able to carry it over the Classic distance.

"He's a hard ride, because he's very aggressive. But he's improved over the year, where he's settling more and relaxing. It's always been about harnessing his speed and that's what he's doing now."

Was Sadler surprised by Flightline's devastating performance last time? Apparently not.

"He was touted highly to me before he got to the barn. He's a horse that's never hidden his talent. Brilliant is his normal."

Breeders' Cup Classic (9.40 Keeneland, Saturday)

Coral: 2-5 Flightline, 5 Epicenter, 7 Life Is Good, 12 Taiba, 25 Hot Rod Charlie, 33 Olympiad, Rich Strike, 66 Happy Saver

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday