Taking Flight

General racing discussion.

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Tappiano
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Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Sun Dec 26, 2021 12:12 pm

Flightline is poised for take off later today.

As an aside, he got his name when he was 10 days old, I wonder if his breeders knew he was going to be special.

Cheers to an exciting four year old campaign for this horse who is incredibly talented. If you haven't had a chance to watch his breezes, they are something to behold. He moves effortlessly and when he levels off he takes off, even though you don't necessarily think he has a fast turn of foot.

Tappiano
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Sat Jun 11, 2022 2:08 pm

Took off today in the Met Mile :D

Shawklit Won
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Shawklit Won » Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:50 pm

It was good for him and good for his sire, Tapit. Just stay healthy.
Shawklit Won.

Tappiano
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Sun Sep 04, 2022 4:35 pm

And he continues to improve. That was an amazing performance yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVtPCJ9BsKc

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Joltman
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Joltman » Fri Sep 09, 2022 6:56 pm

So much potential. But can he stay in form or will there be a bounce...
Run the race - the one that's really worth winning.

Tappiano
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Sun Sep 11, 2022 3:27 pm

I think he will continue to improve. His stride is so efficient that even if he bounces I highly doubt there's another horse who can beat him. We will see him next in the BC classic and then "knock wood" they run him again next year.

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Joltman
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Joltman » Tue Sep 27, 2022 1:25 pm

The way they're handling him as an older horse, lots of time between starts, should allow peak form. But they all lose some time. There are a lot of things he has yet to encounter. A full field in the BC classic may throw a curve ball.

jm
Run the race - the one that's really worth winning.

Tappiano
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Sat Nov 05, 2022 3:06 pm

No words needed. We may never see another horse like him.

https://twitter.com/BreedersCup/status/ ... zMMKrDcqNQ

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Joltman
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Joltman » Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:20 pm

Awesome race. Not real impressed with the final time, coming home after 1.07.4, 1.34.3, the 2.00 - 25+ second final quarter. Meaningless perhaps, with no pressure. But would have liked to see a stronger, older horse division. Most of the contenders were tired 3yos. Would love to have seen Knicks Go run with this guy. Life is Good would have won the Sprint or the Dirt mile I think.
Run the race - the one that's really worth winning.

Taffy
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Taffy » Sun Nov 06, 2022 6:13 am

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. at Monmouth Park in 2004.
Even though he gave Flightline the fastest number he has ever given to a horse, Jerry Brown, who owns Thoro-Graph, said he chose to err on the side of caution and that had he not the figure would have been much faster.

Tappiano
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Tappiano » Mon Nov 07, 2022 6:56 am

I don't think it was a particularly fast track plus there were 20MPH winds pretty much all day.

Only Authentic ran a faster mile and a quarter at Keeneland.
Second fastest six furlongs in the history of the race behind Skip Away.

The BC dirt mile time was 1:35.33, the classic was 1:34.53
The BC Sprint time was 1:09.11, the classic was 1:09.62

His final quarter times just aren't generally that fast, he's always being eased up. The only difference between this and his breezes (where he always winds up galloping out a mile) he is always asked after the finish line.

It's a shame they retired him but I was relieved. He is special.

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Joltman
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Re: Taking Flight

Postby Joltman » Thu Nov 17, 2022 6:29 pm

Those internals were set by Life is Good. Would have liked to see him in one of the shorter races.
Run the race - the one that's really worth winning.