Plenty of Talk About Flightline at Saratoga

There weren't many spots on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course or the Oklahoma Training Track Sept. 4 where the conversation wasn't about the jaw-dropping performance by Flightline in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) at Del Mar the day before. "He looked spectacular," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said outside his barn at the Oklahoma. "To me, it was a Secretariat-type performance that we saw. There's not much more to say about it." "Very impressive," fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher said at his Oklahoma barn. "He hasn't been beat yet. Very impressive, for sure. I expected him to run well." Flightline ran his record to 5-for-5 with his 19 1/4-length runaway. He has won both his starts this year. The next stop for the son of Tapit will be the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 5. That is also the probable landing spot for horses trained by Pletcher and Mott. Pletcher is targeting Life Is Good, who won the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Aug. 6, to the Classic. Mott is hoping to run Olympiad, the bounce-back winner of the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Sept. 3. Pletcher will aim Life Is Good, a son of Into Mischief, to the $500,000 Woodward Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack Oct. 1. When asked about Life Is Good running against Flightline at Keeneland, Pletcher was not going to offer much. "Hopefully, (the Classic) is a successful one for us," he said. "I mean, we have tremendous respect for (Flightline). We also have a lot of confidence in how good we think Life Is Good is. I am looking forward to running in the Breeders' Cup Classic if Life Is Good runs well in the Woodward and keeps moving forward." Olympiad rebounded from a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Whitney to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup by two lengths. Mott said the son of Speightstown will remain in Saratoga, where he will train him up to the Classic. And as far as facing Flightline? Well, let's go, Mott says. "We are leaning toward the Breeders' Cup Classic," he said. "Of course, the next question is going to be 'what about Flightline?' They usually run more than one horse in the race, and we'll probably be a participant. It's the end of the year with a big purse." Smullen Still on Road to Recovery It has been a long year for Heather Smullen. The exercise rider for trainer Barclay Tagg has been recovering from a horrid riding accident that saw her break her tibia and fibula in her right leg. It happened at the end of the 2021 meet at Saratoga Race Course, and the road to recovery has been slow. She was the familiar partner of 2020 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law. She worked the New York-bred for much of his racing career in addition to several other horses in the Tagg barn. The 40-year-old Smullen, the niece of Tagg's longtime assistant Robin Smullen, injured herself when Blitz to Win jumped on the rail at Saratoga on the far turn and landed on her knee. Smullen had surgery last September and, at the start of this year's meet, had another one. "They had to remove a growth that had developed," she said. "They put a plate and seven screws on the fibula and bone and grafted the area that is not healed." Getting back to work for the Tagg barn is a goal, but she isn't sure if that will ever happen. "I don't know if I will be able to," she said. "If you aren't going to be able to do it well, you don't want to do it. If I can't hold a squat position, I won't be able to gallop." Blitz to Win, owned by Tiz the Law's connections, Sackatoga Stable, is still in training and finished fifth in an allowance race at Saratoga Aug. 20. Smullen, who calls Florida home, has been at Saratoga for the entire meet because she had the surgery in the Capital Region and her doctors are here. "I miss the horses, but I still get to be around them, which is nice," she said. "You can't sit around at home and do nothing. I do miss riding nice horses. The obstinate ones that are being ridiculous, I don't miss them too much." Smullen said she will see how long it takes for her leg to fully heal before deciding what is next for her career. She estimates that her right leg is at 75 percent. "We will just wait and see how it heals," she said. "Right now, it's sore, but it's stable."