TVG Pacific Classic: Flightline Installed 1-5 Favorite In Field Of Six

by Mac McBride/Del Mar|08.30.2022|7:51pm

Hronis Racing and partners’ undefeated Flightline has been made the 1-5 favorite against five rivals in Saturday’s 32nd running of the $1-million TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

The 4-year-old son of Tapit, an impressive winner of his four starts so far, including a pair of Grade I scores, drew Post 5 in the compact field at a special draw party Tuesday afternoon at The Brigantine restaurant, which sits on the high ground overlooking the racetrack in north San Diego County.

Conditioner John Sadler has been training Flightline at Del Mar all summer and the big colt has appeared silky smooth in his weekly morning drills as he prepares for his first attempt at a mile and one quarter. Come Saturday, he’ll be reunited with the only partner he’s ever known, four-time Del Mar summer riding champ Flavien Prat, who’ll jet in from his new riding headquarters in New York for the mount.

Flightline’s 1-5 odds match the shortest morning line price in the race’s history, the same one hung on the mighty Cigar as he tried for a record-setting 17th straight victory in the sixth Pacific Classic in 1996. The two-time Horse of the Year – who went off at 1-10 that afternoon — was defeated in that race by 39-1 Dare And Go in one of racing’s great upsets.

Those ready to give the 2022 favorite a go are Commonwealth Thoroughbreds or Winstar Farm and Zedan Racing Stables’ Country Grammer (Post 2); C R K Stable’s Express Train (Post 4); Jay Em Ess Stable’s Extra Hope (Post 1); Fox Hill Farms and Siena Farm’s Royal Ship (Post 3), and Steve Moger’s Stilleto Boy (Post 6).

The TVG Pacific Classic is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” race, meaning the winning horse has a guaranteed spot, with all fees paid, in the $6-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be held at Keeneland in Kentucky on Nov. 5.

The TVG Pacific Classic will be Race 10 on an 11-race program with a first post of 1 p.m.