Lane's End's Flightline will have his first yearlings offered in the United States on display at the prestigious The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale, Aug. 4-5 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y
The 2022 Horse of the Year will be represented by nine yearlings that include five fillies and four colts. They were bred on a $200,000 stud fee—the highest fee for a first-year sire since 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2016.
Flightline had the highest-quality first book of mares among all this year's first-crop sires. Book quality is assessed using two metrics: the Comparable Index and the Class Performance Index. The CI is comparable to the Average Earnings Index but instead signifies the value of the mares as producers. The CPI indicates the racing quality of the mares, and how talented they were as racehorses.
The first mares bred to Flightline led in both categories amongst his first-crop peers with a 6.84 CI and a 7.80 CPI. The 2021 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Life Is Good was next in line with a 2.74 CI and a 5.43 CPI.
Among the talented mares contributing to his high-quality book for Flightline is grade 1 winner and producer Hot Dixie Chick—dam of Hip 118 in the Saratoga sale, who will be offered Aug. 5 by Gainesway, agent for Stonestreet Bred for Brilliance.
Flightline was bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine, who stayed in for a piece of the colt throughout his racing career. He was sold for $1 million to West Point Thoroughbreds at the 2019 Saratoga sale.
"He was a beautiful horse, the mental side of him was very solid," said Terry Finley, president and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds. "We knew a little bit about the family. We had gotten the Violas (Vincent and Teresa) into the business in 2011, and Reciept (Flightline's granddam) was the first mare John Sparkman—who did all the breeding work for the Violas—she was the first mare that the Violas purchased. There were a lot of things that came together."
Renowned bloodstock agent David Ingordo signed for the colt on behalf of West Point Thoroughbreds.
"I saw him in January of his yearling year for the first time," Ingordo said. "He always had a bit of a presence about him, and that head and eye, the body, he was there. At Saratoga, he had matured for a yearling into what he was supposed to look like. He had a very powerful hip, tremendous bone, a great head and eye on him, a very intelligent-looking horse. I like that 'it' quality, and the rest is history—literally and figuratively.
"I've looked at about 70 of his offspring, I've had a hard time finding one that I did not rate as a nice horse. They were all very well made. They have his bone, his presence."
Flightline has been clearing every hurdle to date. He had three yearlings go through the ring at the JRHA Select Sale July 14, averaging $1,183,206. The trio was led by a colt out of grade 2 winner Selflessly who sold for $1,419,818 to Susumu Fujita. In 2024, five Flightline weanlings sold for a cumulative $2,325,000 and an average of $465,000. His first in-foal mares averaged more than $1 million.
The other Flightline yearlings being offered during The Saratoga Sale include:
- Hip 34, a filly out of All American Dream, dam of this year's San Vicente Stakes (G2) winner Barnes. Consigned by Indian Creek, agent.
- Hip 59, a filly out of multiple graded stakes winner and graded stakes producer Carolyn's Cat. Consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, agent.
- Hip 102, a filly out of graded stakes winner Georgie's Angel, dam of multiple grade 1 winner Cave Rock. Consigned by Eaton Sales, agent.
- Hip 111, a colt out of multiple graded stakes producer Hennesey Smash. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent.
- Hip 135, a filly out of the Galileo mare Key To My Heart. Consigned by Lane's End, agent for Summer Wind Equine.
- Hip 156, a colt out of graded stakes-placed Warrior's Reward mare Message; this is her second foal. Consigned by Denali Stud, agent.
- Hip 176, a colt out of graded stakes-placed Quality Road mare Park Avenue; this is her first foal. Consigned by Lane's End, agent for Summer Wind Equine.
- Hip 208, a filly out of the grade 1-placed Into Mischief mare Slam Dunk. This is her second foal. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Don Alberto Corporation.
Campaigned by Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing, Flightline, by Tapit , broke his maiden on debut by 13 1/4 lengths for trainer John Sadler, following that with a 12 3/4-length win in an allowance optional claimer before trying graded stakes company.
He won his next four races—all grade 1s—by a combined 45 lengths, retiring after a dominating win in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) over a talented field including fellow first-crop sires Olympiad , Life Is Good, and Epicenter . He retired with $4.5 million in earnings.
"Flightline was one of the most wonderful horses that we've seen in the last 25-50 years," said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning. "He was brilliant on the racetrack, a brilliant horse to look at, was bred by Summer Winds' Jane Lyons, who I think is one of the most highly thought of and respected people in our industry."
