Flightline

HOKKAIDO, Japan-The demand for the progeny of Kitasan Black (Jpn) continued at the JRHA Sale on Tuesday as, just 24 hours after supplying the top lot of the yearling session, a half-brother to G1 NHK Mile Cup winner Schnell Meister (Ger) topped the foal segment for the Shadai Station-based stallion at ¥410 million [roughly $2.59 million]. Lot 364, who was consigned by Northern Farm, is out of the German Oaks winner Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), and was bought by prominent Japanese-based owner Toshihiko Tabata. Of the 239 foals offered,...

HOKKAIDO, Japan--Expectation rather than trepidation. Pre-JRHA Select Sale nerves are different to the ones we go through back in Europe, that's for sure.  A quick scan through the over 500-strong catalogue of foals and yearlings will remind you just how small the world is with many familiar names cropping up on any given page.  However, a morning spent in the company of JRHA chairman and Shadai Farm boss Teruya Yoshida followed by a trip to Northern Farm, which will consign a massive 180 lots at the sale, pegs into light...

Three members from the much-anticipated first crop by undefeated Horse of the Year Flightline (Tapit) are scheduled to go under the hammer during the foal session of the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale on Tuesday, July 9, on the northern island of Hokkaido. The foal sale is preceded by the Select Yearling Sale on Monday, July 8. TDN European Sales Editor Brian Sheerin will be providing on-site coverage. Flightline has every chance to make an enormous first impression when lot 347 becomes the first of the three offerings...

While Ashford young gun Justify was busy making waves over the pond this weekend, it was Gainesway's time-tested sire royalty who quietly added to his legacy on American shores. No matter how you slice it, one stallion in North America--and only one--leads all active lifetime sires by every major category, be it earnings, black-type winners, graded winners, Grade I winners, and even lifetime starters and winners. Unmatched among living active sires, Tapit hasn't had bigger crops than the other stallions on the list (he ranks third among the top 10...

The Week in Review On a day when there were three stakes races, two of them Grade I's, at Santa Anita, the biggest draw on the Monday card was a maiden, Eagles Flight (Curlin). He drew more fans to the paddock than were there for any of the stakes. That's what happens when you're making your first start and are a half-brother to the great Flightline (Tapit). Crank up the hype machine. Eagles Flight, sent off at 11-10, won by 2 3/4 lengths, drawing away with ease inside the final...

Being a half-brother to undefeated Horse of the Year Flightline (Tapit, Horse of the Year, Ch. Older Dirt Male, MGISW, $4,514,800), the expectations were naturally high and the pressure certainly on, and Hronis Racing, Summer Wind Equine and William S. Farish's Eagles Flight (c, 3, Curlin--Feathered, by Indian Charlie) proved equal to the task, overcoming something of a tricky trip to join Flightline as 'TDN Rising Stars.' Beyond the obvious pedigree appeal, Eagles Flight had displayed plenty of ability in the mornings, with three consecutive black-letter works heading into the...

8th-SA, $54K, Msw, 3-5yo, 6f, 7:30 p.m. In a race that also features the debut of Flightline's half-brother Eagles Flight (Curlin), breaking just to that runner's outside is VISCERAL (Violence) for the partnership of MyRacehorse and Edge Racing. Bought for $400,000 out of OBS March last year after working in :10, the grey or roan colt is the second foal out of a half to GSW San Pablo (Jump Start) and MGSP Slider (Prenup). Working out of trainer Mark Glatt's barn, Visceral has fired bullets in two of his last...

There are three graded stakes races on Monday's card at Santa Anita, but the most anticipated race of the day may be the eighth, a $54,000 maiden race run at six furlongs. That's because it features the debut of Eagles Flight (Curlin) a 3-year-old half-brother to Flightline (Tapit). Like Flightline, Eagles Flight is trained by John Sadler. "I am excited," Sadler said. "We've been working closely with him and he's showing good run and he's worked well in company. We've got 48 hours to go and we're anxious to get...

A yearling full-brother to the globetrotting Deirdre (Jpn) and first-crop foals by Flightline and Baaeed (GB) are among the entries for the JRHA Select Sale, which is set to take place at the Northern Horse Park in Hokkaido on July 8 and 9. Deirdre, a daughter of Harbinger (GB), was a Grade 1 winner in her native country before setting out on her worldwide travels which saw her win the G1 Nassau S. at Goodwood and finish runner-up in both Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Her younger brother (lot 74)...

It's safe to say that no horse has retired to stud in recent memory with the fanfare of Flightline, who won all six of his starts by a combined 71 lengths, including four Grade Is. He was the world's highest-ranked racehorse of 2022, and earned triple-digit Beyers in all six of his starts. With an initial fee of $200,000, Flightline covered just over 150 mares in 2023 in his initial book, and those in-foal mares averaged $1,074,431 at the sales, the highest average for a first-crop covering sire in 15...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Hanzly Albina of Newtownanner Stud. "I don't take this lightly at all," said Albina, who is both general manager of Newtownanner's Kentucky farm and North American bloodstock manager of the operation. "It's a ton of fun when it works out. For me, the physical is what I'm shooting for as I can't predict performance. We want to produce what we would buy in a sales ring, want to produce as nice a horse as...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Machmer Hall's Carrie Brogden. Becca's Rocket, 6, (Orb-Idoitmyway, by Unbridled's Song). To be bred to Elite Power. Becca's Rocket is currently in foal to Jackie's Warrior. We bred this Orb filly and after the untimely death of her Unbridled's Song dam in a paddock accident, I vowed to buy this beautiful stakes mare back after her racing career. When she was born, I had such high hopes for her because she was just a...