Flightline Proves Himself One of the All-Time Greats in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Classic 

its like the horse realized at that moment that everybody knew his name…

C' est bien cela L' essentiel. Merci.

I have been a racing fan since the early 70s and I am still an amateur, I never learned how to read a racing form, and my process of picking a winner would probably be laughed at by serious gamblers but I love watching these amazing animals compete.

That’s the goal! Want to show these to my grandkids and 50 years and be like “look how amazing this horse was”

Dubia dose not work for Stud duty. So unless he is planing on season three of running no!

FACTS lol

It’s okay….get into it. I know Flightlines name won’t be on that list because he really hasn’t had much of a career. Let him race about 15 more times so we can call him an actual race horse that had a career….not a lightly raced colt with his races spaced out just perfectly so he doesn’t feel the effects of being a competitive race horse.

@@penelopelopez8296 He didn’t race as a colt. I guess winning by more than 71 combined lengths in all 6 races doesn’t mean a thing to you. He didn’t break any track records ,still isn’t enough for you to say he is just an ordinary horse. Winning 5 out of 6 races under a gallop at the wire and never feeling the whip whatsoever with no one to challenge him in the stretch drive. No horse came back to challenge him from races past. Flightline is a true Champion that went undefeated. He doesn’t have to prove to the world who he is. For you to say what you said means that you probably never got to see all of his races. Go back and see what he did on his Maiden race and the rest & listen to the track announcers so you’ll understand on what they were saying once he hit the stretch. If you bring up any horse that was better then look at how many races they lost. There is a saying that says EVEN CHAMPIONS LOSE. Unlike, FLIGHTLINE.

Well, Big Red ran 21 times and on the turf twice plus ran 9 times as a 2 year old before facing the best older horse and turf horses five times before the end of his 3 year old year. Let’s see Flightline run 16 more times and face the best turf horses twice…..let’s see what he looks like after that. They pumped the horse full of roids as a yearling and kept up the routine long enough to get five races out of him before he breaks down. Stud fees is where the real money is. Let’s see what he produces in a few years.

@@penelopelopez8296 The sport (and business) has devolved over the past 49 years. My comment included the word “breathtaking “ in describing Flightline’s races. How can you actually compare him to one of the greatest horses to ever look through a bridle?

I feel Flightline is benefiting from recency bias. Yes he is a very special horse but I still give AP the nod at this point (still think Sec was in a league all his own). Won the Triple crown, ran just as fast as Flightline in the classic at keenland, won in a 20 horse field in the derby, won over an off track in the Preakness. Don’t get me wrong Flightline is incredible, but he only gets raced after long layoffs in ideal conditions against small fields.

Let's see if we're still talking about him 50 years from now ! And if he's a triple crown winner who's record still holds ! Saying that I think he's wonderful ❤️

I argue for Kelso. The distances he ran, the weight he carried, between ages 3-8 no less.... There's no comparison. I applaud Flightline for all he's accomplished, and so effortlessly, but he's got a ways to go before he can hold a candle to Kelso (or Man o'War or Secretariat or Citation). I would say Flightline IS the best of the 21st century that we've seen so far.

@@kelsowins Yay I'm glad there is a Kelso fan out there!

​@@1stdown407 TAKE OUT SECRETARIAT BIG BELMONT WIN BY 30 LENGTH AND WOULD BE JUST ANOTHER TRIPLE CROWN WINNER 👀 SECRETARIAT GOT BEAT BY A NOBODY CALLED ONION 🧅 AFTER THE BIG BELMONT WIN SECRETARIAT WASN'T ABLE TO WIN ON DIRT AGAIN LMAO 😂 SECRETARIAT LAST RACE WIN WAS ON GRASS 🤫 EASY GOER WAS SECOND BEST TO SUNDAY SILENCE 👊

As Michelangelo said” Horses are Gods Greatest Gift to Mankind “

We are junk compared to many other species...both in body and spirit

I don’t know an Oprah singer is pretty beautiful. But you’re right. Good things humans can sing!!

Bruce you aint, but iam...ask my mother.

You ever seen Sophia Vergara?

It was an honor to witness!

He's not comparable to Secretariat.

@@rezotydnic you are right, Flightline is much better!

@@rezotydnic You obviously don't know anything about horse racing. His Beyer speed figures are astronomical. He ran the first quarter of the breeders cup at a suicidal pace and still ran an untested and remarkably fast final quarter. Mike Smith a jockey who has been racing for decades on the best said he's never seen anything like flightline. This horse has never really had to run. He did a 2 minute mile and a quarter on Saturday with little urging from his jockey. This horse IS comparable to secretariat.

@@frederickyork6927 it's easy to argue a point when you are basing it on figures. What no one can ever know is how a race would've played out has he been up against Secretariat. And talking figures, not many horses have ever ran each 1/4 faster than the one before. And not many horses have won races by 31 lengths. In trying to make Flightline the best in your opinion, you can't take away what Secretariat did. Not disputing he's good. But a Secretariat equal or better? Time will tell. He's not there yet in my books.

@@rezotydnic What we do know is Flightline would never have lost to a horse named Onion. Lmfao!!

Exactly 💯 usually is THOSE EAST COAST 🤡 LIVING IN THE PAST WITH SECRETARIAT WHO LOST TO ONION FOLLOWING THE BIG BELMONT WIN 😂 SECRETARIAT COULDN'T WIN ON DIRT AGAIN AFTER THE BELMONT WIN 😂 THE LAST WIN FOR SECRETARIAT WAS ON GRASS 🤫 EASY GOER WAS SECOND BEST TO SUNDAY SILENCE 👊 GHOSTZAPPER LOST THE FIRST RACES NOTHING SPECIAL

Thanks for watching!

What you said about breeding horse's to race them and now they are racing horses to breed them is not true. They are still breeding horses to race them! The horses have to do well in the races or they wont make money off them in the breeding shed so breeding them to race is much more important.

Thanks for watching! Flightline has nothing left to prove in my eyes, he is the GOAT.

@Sheherizade Arabesque You claim he'll shame all the persons like me who demand he prove his greatness and not just fork over the title of "One of the Greatest of All Time." There is NO SHAME in holding high standards. If he does do it, which I doubt he will, fine. We thought the same of Arrogate, who accomplished much greater feats than Lifeline, like the fastest time for a mile and a quarter ever in the Travers Stakes run on the venerable Saratoga racetrack, then won the Breeder's Cup Classic over the previous winner California Chrome, won the Pegasus World Cup and the Dubai World Cup despite breaking from the gate slowly and having to beat a great horse named Gun Runner. He won almost $17 and a half million on the track. Yet because he did not maintain this form to the end he has been dismissed by most from the pantheon list of one of the "Greatest of All Time." Let Flightline's connections attempt as much with him and if he succeeds THEN he'll have earned The Title. NOT UNTIL!

@@apharoah12 You are easily convinced. He is not even the greatest of the decade let alone the GOAT.

@@vernonfrance2974 I still consider Arrogate one of the greatest I’ve ever seen. Just because he didn’t care anymore the last few races doesn’t discount the talent he exhibited. The Top 3 in my lifetime are Flightline, American Pharoah, and Arrogate

Yes.

A super horse has a much longer career than a hand full of races spaced perfectly apart. Kelso was a super horse…..so was Citation, Secretariat, Etc…. A horse has to have a significant career in order to be a super horse….this horses career was so short that he reminds me of Wajima but at least Wajima faced significant older horses more than once in his short career.

The crowd went quiet when Epicenter broke down

Yes, hoping and praying that the steroids dont show up in the post race urine analysis.

@@penelopelopez8296 Do you have proof steroids were used? The race was a while ago, any drugs would’ve showed positive by now

You are right on about that.

Wrong Flightline is the G.O.A.T

@@sammysheeesh4730 FL has raced 6 times in 2 years. Secretariat raced 21 times in 16 months. Secretariat set 3 race records in the Triple Crown and other race records. Secretariat raced 3 times in 5 weeks in the Triple Crown races. Flightline ran 3 times this entire year! Flightline is a great horse but he doesnt even compare to Secretariat. Running 6 races, you can't be called a GOAT, no way.

Lmao Secretariat did all that beating weak competition. There's no way Secretariat could pass Life is Good running 1:07 change at 6f marker, he would've died down the stretch with Life is Good. Flightline is the G O.A.T period.

@@TimesUp777 Frequency of races means absolutely nothing when you’re looking at the pure talent of the horse. Secretariat never beat competition as good as Flightline did yesterday as easily as Flightline won. Secretariat lost 5 times against inferior horses, Flightline has never even felt the crop that’s how easily he wins. The way he ran past Life Is Good, who is one of the most gifted horses we’ve seen this century, is absolutely insane with how fast they went early. Flightline went right by and came back to the barn like nothing ever happened.

Such a fun few weeks. As always, thanks for your support and for watching!

@@apharoah12 I love that you became a fan of Richie 😁

@@marlakay He’s such a special and fun horse. And his connections have been fantastic with sharing him with the world. Easy horse to root for.

Absolutely no guarantee that he will be a top sire. 5 lifetime starts is not an indication of durability.

@@adrianashilling2573 winning 6 races by. A combined 81 lengths. He had no competition no were in the world!!

Thanks for watching!!

Flightline really is one of the fastest and greatest of all time!!

@@paulcarpool2288 well I'll be pulling for him in the future!

@@coinwater8511 just found out they retired him.

@@paulcarpool2288 well, I wish him a good retirement. Certainly seems he's put in the work already.

Richie is quite special ❤️

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Flightline is great but Secretariat is the Superior Super Horse.

Secretariat was God's gift to Horse Racing. Look at the front end of him. No other horse can compare to him. Then compare his on track times. No horse can run Track and World Records each time he ran. Secretariat was a monster size of a horse. He destroyed all comers. Even his stablemate Riva Ridge. He ran just as fast on dirt as on Turf. Only jockey error and something wrong physical got him beat. Even his trainer said. That he shouldn't had never been beaten. Go back to that Belmont win. And those record wins. No horse has come close to Big Red. Period

Lmao at Flightline naysayers with the Secretariat crap. Flightline would've destroyed Secretariat without evening trying

@@sammysheeesh4730 In your dreams !!

Wrong, 7 horses finished in front of Big Red. One, a former claimer.

Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching!! If he returns next year the goal is to attend all his races.

No horse ever lived that could have beat Secretariat in the Belmont! I watched that race on TV. But Flightline is a great one and was great in Breeder's cup race. Liked the race a lot!

Thanks for watching!

They all have their personalities . They do so much unnatural stuff for humans Some horses are moldable and others are full of themselves "Richie" is feeling his oats. He's as much of a joy to watch as any of them Congrats Eric Reid and connections And yes Flightline is a gentkeman

I hate to say it because I love Pharoah, but Pharoah and Authentic’s classics did not have the field quality of what Flightline beat today. You can’t compare track conditions year after year. I talked to both Johnny V and Mike Smith a few days before the race and they mentioned how the track had been dead and deep for front runners at the end of the meeting, and no front runners were winning on the dirt this weekend except Flightline. Flightline won by the largest margin of victory in BC Classic’s 39 year history without being asked with the crop and against the toughest field the Classic has ever seen. Secretariat never beat the quality of horses Flightline did today. Unfortunately we’ll never know, but if we had a match race between the two my money would be on Flightline without any hesitation.

@@apharoah12 yeah but that doesn't matter because the actual time of the race reveals much more than the field of horses that he ran with

@@AmericanAbsolute Time does not. Every track plays different on every day. Time means nothing at the end of the day.

@@AmericanAbsolute If you really want to look at times, speed figures are a better way to tell than the time themselves. Flightline earned a 121 Beyer, Pharoah a 120, Authentic a 111. Authentic may have had a faster time, but that doesn’t mean he ran anywhere near as good nor beat the best competition

That’s because she was a mare.

@@6cobrasnake9 She did nothing in the breeding shed and it's a fact that most successful mares are those who were not champion level horses. Zenyatta would have been better off continuing to race, for when she hit her best stride in the latter stages of races, there wasn't another horse who could keep up with her. She only lost her one and only time against top males competition in the Breeders Cup Classic the 2nd time she performed in it and she was only held off from winning that by quickly diminishing head by the winner who she would have sailed by in another stride or two. Never saw a more impressive late runner in my life.

@@ridgemanron You don’t want to run them out to the ground. Aren’t you aware that 100 things can go bad in horse racing? If they would’ve not raced her in her last race, she would’ve been a true champion by being undefeated. All races all wins! But to please people like you she lost. Go and see what happened to Ruffian & maybe you will understand more about this sport.

@@ridgemanron By the way, she won a BCC against the males a year before. I was there at S.A. And when she won a BC the year before that also against filly’s & mares.

@@6cobrasnake9 - I see you are the one who doesn't have a clue with regard to what happened to Ruffian, or to Sham in the Belmont. Two close friends of mine were New York jockeys named Michael Venezia and Ben Feliciano. They both confirmed that when fastest run races was all the rage years ago, they would in special instances, such as the match race Ruffian ran in, and the Belmont Stakes that Secretariat ran in, 'pack down' the track, making it like hard concrete, for this would produce record shattering times. Ruffian broke down on such as surface, but Penny Tweedy who had a lot of clout, especially since having a horse who won the Ky. Derby & Preakness, and she was obsessed with speed, having accused Pimlico as not having properly timed Secretariat's Preakness win, which had her make sure the track was lightning fast since she felt Secretariat had thick legs and could handle such a track. Meanwhile, Sham wound up 'breaking down' in the race and of course Secretariat would win by an astronomical amount of lengths against the remaining inferior competition. Trainer John Campo, who had a participant in the race, whom he knew didn't belong in it, gave way to intense pressure to enter his horse to make it look like a truly competitive race when only Secretariat & Sham belonged in it. Sham was a much slimmer horse than Secretariat and the 'concrete ' track resulted in his breaking down. His connections were so outraged that The Racing Commission, not wanting this 'track packing' to run wild in the media, stopped allowing this dangerous 'track packing' to continue. That is why Ruffian and Sham broke down. Trainer Howard Jergens was so outraged by what Penny Tweedy concocted and told Michael Venezia and others that he would 'personally' prove that Secretariat was overrated. He ran two of his horses against him. One was a six year old '$15,000' claimer named Onion, who had lost 39 of 54 races, and Prove Out, a 4 year old who was beaten 30 out of 39 races. After defeating Secretariat convincingly with both horses, he was asked why he had the nerve to run these mediocre horses against 'The Great Secretariat' and he simply said, 'Because I believed he was overrated and I wanted to prove it !' I think you'll agree he proved his point. The odds on a huge, super developed, strong horse like Zenyatta likely breaking down would have been beyond remote & she could have gone down as the greatest of all time had she continued racing for a few more years.

Best dirt horse that has ever been? Pull up the YT video of the 1976 Marlboro Cup. Forego won that race by a head, ran the race faster than Flightweight won the BCC yesterday, carrying 137lbs, the track was mud, Forego had just run in and won the 9f Woodward 2 weeks before while carrying 134lbs. He ran from 1973 to 1978, 57 starts/34 wins, 8 Eclipse awards, 3 times HOY, voted into the racing HOF the year after he retired - BUT YOU ARE SAYING THIS PIECE OF CHICKENSHIT IS BETTER THAN FOREGO??????

Easy to say. Impossible to prove. However, they both broke world records. Has Flightline? He has never faced another great horse. Both MOW and Secretariat did. He has never raced at a mile and a half. Both MOW and Secretariat did. He's never run on the turf or traveled abroad to race. Secretariat did. Lifeline did not even beat the records of three other winners of the BCC including the previous two winners Knicks Go and Authentic. Now they are Authentic champions.

I agree 👍

Very young fan. Study the game over the past 70 years and will see several lifetimes

If you want a BC hat you have to get one from one of his connections or maybe find one online in an auction or something. If you just want general merchandise, LE *might* sell something for him, but I don't know for sure.

@@meganproffitt424 Thanks. I got my RS hat from Tag Your Swag out of Louisville. They seem to be pretty big and I figure all the owners use the same company, so I emailed them today and hopefully they’ll reply tomorrow when they get in to work. BTW, what is LE?

@@eddiefigueroa9080 Owners get their BC hats directly from the Breeder’s Cup management. There is a secured website. That’s where I got my hats for my BC horses was the secure website for connections. LE is Lane’s End. They are Flightline’s majority owners :)

Thanks for watching! Scary to think we’ve never seen him fully asked!

Flightline has never been pushed, I don't think Flavien ever considered using the whip, we might never know just how much more Flightline is capable of.

If they want him to be deserving of the title "The Best," they are going to have to stop coddling him, running him only after months and months, and claiming they are not getting him to do his best. A great horse does his/her best often instead of their connections saying "Oh, he could have done better." That's easy to say, but to be a great one it has to be demonstrated. The proof is in the pudding. Actions speak louder than words.

@@apharoah12 What's scary is that people will let his connections get away with the claim he can do better but are have so far been totally reluctant to prove it.

@@vernonfrance2974 Nobody came within five lengths of him his entire career . He’s the best horse to come out since Zenyatta. He’s a champion and he did it like he was working out he is a great one.

Better than both. Flightline would destroy both easily.

@@sammysheeesh4730 Easy to say. Impossible to prove. However, they both broke world records. Has Flightline? He has never faced another great horse. Both MOW and Secretariat did. He has never raced at a mile and a half. Both MOW and Secretariat did. He's never run on the turf or traveled abroad to race. Secretariat did.

​@Dark Knight FLIGHTLINE 🛫✈️✈️ IS THE BEST EVER UNDEFEATED CHAMPION 🏆 UNBEATABLE 🛫🛫 SECRETARIAT LOST TO ONION FOLLOWING THE 30 LENGTH BELMONT WIN 😂 SECRETARIAT COULDN'T WIN ON DIRT AFTER THE BELMONT WIN 😂🤣 THE LAST SECRETARIAT WIN CAME ON GRASS 🤫 THE BEST HORSE EVER FLIGHTLINE ✈️

​@Dark Knight WHAT BEER OR ALCOHOL YOU DRINKING 🍺🤡 FLIGHTLINE IS THE BEST EVER UNDEFEATED BREEDERS CUP CLASSIC CHAMPION 🏆 UNBEATABLE 🛫

You are right on with that comment. You can call him great but he doesn't compare with the likes of Secretariat or MOW. Secretariat ran three races in 5 weeks and set race records in the TC. FL ran three races all year and didn't set a race record. Love FL but he would have to win a lot more races and set record times to even compare to the greatest horses.

And, just who is going to race against Flightline? All time, Secretariat # 1, Flightline, 1A.

@@jakebender9355 His connections seem to be reluctant to do anything but give him the easiest career with not even an effort to have him travel abroad. Why should they, though, if they can get by without having to? It's up to discerning fans, analysts, breeders, owners, trainers and others to see to it they don't get by with this deception.

Not really he's taken the biggest prize on his first attempt at grade 1. And 6th race at that hope he trains on but they satatations were saying that if frontline ran in any of the previous breeders cup classics he would of won them all that's saying something.

@@jakebender9355 you do realize that FL only won 4 GR 1 races in 2 years?! FL can't even be mentioned in the same breath as Secretariat. FL won all his races by so much because he had no competition, accept for the BCC, and he had months to rest between races! Secretariat raced 21 times in 16 months and FL raced 6 times in 2 years!! Secretariat raced 3 times in 5 weeks in the TC. FL raced 3 times a year. What a joke.

I am curious about that as well.

When he injured his right rear in a stall injury they put drugs into that area on his neck to help him heal. The hair follicles died and turned white. I got this info from a Blood Horse article.

@@ernesthercher5193 Thanks for the info!

You are welcome. I live a mile from Oaklawn in Arkansas and love horses and racing. Your videos are all good but this one is your best.

@@apharoah12 btw. Your horse has already been retired to his new home at Lanes End. Wikipedia has already said he retired as well. 4 Grade 1 wins. Big deal is all I can say. FL is beautiful and a very good horse but he's just another Justify accept Justify did more then FL. A year from now FL will be nothing more then a fart in the wind, just like Justify. 1000 years from now they will still be talking about Secretariat. FL will be long forgotten and nothing more then a horse on the internet.

I agree with your last sentence. Flightline I'm sure if he was given the opportunity, would prove every bit as good as they say he is. Unfortunately we will never know. Btw, can't compare times. Different tracks. Different variables. He was never even pushed.

He's just been retired.