Flightline could make history Saturday at Del Mar, or he could just become a footnote to history.
If the morning line for the $1 million Pacific Classic holds and the ubertalented 4-year-old colt indeed goes off as a 1-5 favorite, he could become the shortest-priced winner in the 32-year history of Del Mar’s signature race. The record currently is held by Accelerate (2018) and Maximum Security (2020), who both won at odds of 2-5.
But if one of the other five horses in the field defeats Flightline, it won’t even be the biggest upset in Pacific Classic history. That “honor” belongs to Cigar, who was 1-10 in 1996 when his 16-race win streak was snapped by Dare and Go.
There are connections to all three of those races — 1996, 2018 and 2020 — in Saturday’s race.
Flightline is trained by John Sadler and owned by brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis; they have combined to win three of the last four Pacific Classics, including 2018 with Accelerate.
Country Grammer, the second choice Saturday at 4-1 on the strength of his victory this spring in the Dubai World Cup, is trained by Bob Baffert, who has won two of the last five Classics, including 2020 with Maximum Security. He has six Classic wins overall, tied with Bobby Frankel for the most in the race’s history.
Finally, Dare and Go was trained by Richard Mandella, who is third in Classic history with four wins, including Dare and Go, and has two starters Saturday, Royal Ship (8-1) and Extra Hope (30-1).
The other horses in the field are Express Train (12-1), trained by John Shirreffs, and Stilleto Boy (20-1), trained by Ed Moger Jr. This is Moger’s first Classic starter, while Shirreffs is winless in five tries.
Express Train and Royal Ship were the top two betting choices in last year’s Classic but finished sixth and seventh as Tripoli — trained by Sadler and owned by the Hronis brothers — posted a 6-1 upset.
But that was a mild upset compared to what anyone is trying to pull off Saturday. Flightline, a son of Tapit, has raced just four times but has been brilliant each time, including a 12 3/4-length victory here last summer in an allowance race (when his odds were 1-5). What he hasn’t done is race around two turns, or at a distance of more than a mile. His connections — and, likely, the bettors — are not anticipating that to be a problem.
The full field, in post-position order:
1. Extra Hope (Tyler Baze), 30-1
2. Country Grammer (John Velazquez), 4-1
3. Royal Ship (Mike Smith), 8-1
4. Express Train (Victor Espinoza), 12-1
5. Flightline (Flavien Prat), 1-5
6. Stilleto Boy (Juan Hernandez), 20-1
Post time: approximately 5:35 p.m. (10th race of 11)
On the air: TVG
