STABLE NOTES BY ED GOLDEN SATURDAY, OCT. 22, 2022 __ • FLIGHTLINE WORKS SOLID SIX, IT’S ON TO KENTUCKY • GOING GLOBAL MAKES FINAL START IN GOLDIKOVA • HESS AND MALDONADO FORM A SUCCESSFUL TEAM • BREEDERS’ CUP HOPEFULS BREEZE AT SANTA ANITA ‘SENSATIONAL IS THE NORM,’ SADLER’S FLIGHTLINE IMPRESSIVE__

Unbeaten and untested Flightline was nothing short of brilliant Saturday morning at Santa Anita as the presumptive $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite got an official six furlong time of 1:11.80 in his final local breeze prior to shipping to Lexington, KY early Sunday morning and an appointment with destiny in the Grade I Classic Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

In keeping with a seven-day Santa Anita work pattern dating back to Sept. 24, Flightline, accompanied by a stable pony and ridden by John Sadler assistant trainer Juan Leyva, passed under the finish line well ahead of sunrise at 6:35 a.m., galloped around the Club House turn and was set down for serious business at the five furlong pole with a blinking red light on Leyva’s helmet serving as a welcome beacon for clockers and media alike.

Through splits of 12 flat, 23.80, 35.80 and 59.80, Flightline worked six furlongs to the seven furlong pole and was then timed galloping out seven eighths of a mile in 1:24.20, a mile in 1:37.20 and on Sadler’s watch, a mile and one eighth in an incredible 1:51 flat.

“This was just like his last work at Del Mar (prior to winning the Grade I Pacific Classic on Sept. 3) when he went out a mile in 37 and change, which is what he did today,” said Sadler immediately following this morning’s drill.

“When I talked to Juan this morning, I essentially told him, we’re not doing anything different. We’re just going to breeze him like he’s been breezing, which, sensational is the norm for him.”

Was this Flightline’s best work ever?

“He’s always worked well,” said a decidedly reserved Sadler. “More people are watching now, but he’s never worked anything other than really well. This was just what we wanted…We can do more or less and just hope he bounces out of it good.

“He ships tomorrow, early, at two in the morning and flies out of Ontario. “Rene Quinteros will accompany him on the van to Ontario and Cesar Aguilar will meet him in Louisville. He’ll then van over to Keeneland tomorrow afternoon.

“He’ll have one breeze at Keeneland, one week from today, pending weather. It would be a lesser work, five (furlongs) in a minute is usually what he does…Just kinda cruise around there. His groom, Adolfo Correa and the other guys will fly back tonight and get there ahead of the horse.”

A record 19 ¼ length winner of the Pacific Classic, which was his first try around two turns, Flightline, who stopped the clock for a mile and one quarter while eased up under Flavien Prat in a scintillating 1:59.20, also earned a 126 Beyer Speed Figure, by far the best fig in North America this year. A six length winner of the Grade I Metropolitan Mile Handicap June 11 at Belmont Park, Flightline, in his first stakes assignment, took Santa Anita’s Grade I, seven furlong Malibu by 11 ½ lengths three starts back on Dec. 26.

Owned by a partnership that includes California-based Hronis Racing, LLC, Siena Farm, LLC, Summer Wind Equine, LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing LLC, Flightline, in winning his five races by a combined 62 ¾ lengths, has spurred comparisons to some of racing’s all-time greats while amassing earnings of $1,394,800.

A 4-year-old colt by Tapit out of the Indian Charlie mare Feathered, Flightline was purchased for $1 million out of the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. While his connections have announced that Flightline will stand stud at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles Kentucky following his racing career, it remains undetermined as to whether or not he will race as a 5-year-old in 2023.

--Mike Willman

GOING GLOBAL OFF TO SALES AFTER GOLDIKOVA

Going Global will make her final start in next Saturday’s Grade II Goldikova Stakes which she won last year. The remarkably consistent Irish-bred four-year-old filly is scheduled to work Sunday for the filly and mare race at a mile on turf.

“She’s ready to go and will have her final breeze tomorrow; the Goldikova will be her last race,” said Phil D’Amato, who trains the bay for a partnership. “Then she’s going to the sales.”

That would be Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ Sale in Lexington, Ky., the day after the Breeders’ Cup (Nov. 6). Going Global has won eight of 12 starts in the United States, going off as the favorite in 10 of them, six times at odds-on.

“Hopefully, we can send her out a winner,” D’Amato said of Going Global, winner of nine of 16 races with earnings of $1,017,292.

The $200,000 Goldikova is one seven stakes races Saturday offering more than

$1 million in purses, $1,030,000 to be exact.

The others are the Grade II, $200,000 Twilight Derby for three-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf; the $100,000, Grade III Autumn Miss Stakes for three-year-old fillies at a mile on turf; and the $100,000 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes for fillies and mares three and up at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course. Also, the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile for two-year-old California-breds at seven furlongs; the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies for Cal-breds at seven furlongs; and the $80,000 Lure Stakes for three-year-olds and up at a mile on turf.

The Goldikova is named for the 2010 European Horse of the Year that won the Breeders’ Cup Mile three straight years, 2008 through 2010, was Eclipse Award winner as female turf champion in 2009 and 2010 and a Hall of Fame inductee in 2017.

She won 17 of 27 races earning $7,176,551.

HESS, MALDONADO A WINNING COMBINATION

Bob Hess Jr. and Edwin Maldonado have enjoyed a winning relationship of late. They hope to continue it today.

Maldonado rides 4-1 morning line chance Pittsburgh in the fourth race, a one-mile turf event for $20,000 maiden claimers.

An Ohio native who turns 40 on Dec. 1, Maldonado currently holds fourth place in Santa Anita’s standings with eight victories.

Hess, son of the late trainer Bob Hess Sr., a successful fixture in the Bay Area for decades before his death from Covid 19 at age 86 on Dec. 5, 2020, hooked up with Maldonado through his agent, veteran Tony Matos.

“I’ve always enjoyed interacting with Matos,” said the 57-year-old Hess, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at Stanford where he played one year of baseball with future Major Leaguers Jack McDowell and Ed Sprague. Sprague, a third baseman, is the only player to win a college World Series, an Olympic championship and a Major League World Series (with Toronto). Hess also trained for a guy named Pete Rose.

“I’ve always watched Edwin from afar and always liked him as a person, although I didn’t really know much about him, otherwise,” added Hess, who enjoyed unprecedented success with Kent Desormeaux, formerly represented by Matos. “But I found myself using Edwin when I couldn’t get Kent.

“I’ve really been impressed with Maldonado. The perception is he’s that he’s a speed jockey, but he’s not only a speed jockey. He can rate, sit in a pocket, go to the front, he can do whatever is needed, and he has a wonderful attitude.

“He’s a really great guy and a team player. He doesn’t care if his horse is 50-1 or 8-5; he rides the same way. He doesn’t look at the tote board.” While Hess, a native of Chula Vista, has two sons, Garrison, 30, and Christian, 28, he doesn’t envision either becoming the family’s third-generation trainer, although one likely will be in another facet of the game.

“Christian is getting his MBA at Dartmouth, Garrison just finished in computer science at Carnegie-Mellon and has a job in the tech industry in San Francisco,” Hess said.

“If you asked me which one will own race horses down the line, it will be Garrison. He loves the sport, but the afternoon aspect more.” As the 2022 Major League season accelerates to its climax with the World Series around the corner, Hess, like so many other longtime MLB fans, is put-off by the stark preponderance of analytics.

“Overall, I think change is always good,” he said, “but this overthinking of pulling pitchers after five or six innings before their third go through the rotation doesn’t work for me . . . Look at the numbers but be a baseball player and feel the pulse of the game.”

Hess traveled to Stanford Thursday for his 35-year reunion.

“Today would have been my dad’s 88th birthday,” he said, “so we’re having dinner with the family up there tonight.”

FINISH LINES: In addition to Flightline breezing today for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, other candidates for the Breeders’ Cup working included Comanche Country (five furlongs training track, Juvenile Fillies Turf in 1:02.80, Gold Phoenix (Turf, five furlongs training track in 1:01.20 and Going to Vegas (F&M Turf, five furlongs training track in 1:00.60, all for Phil D’Amato); American Theorem (Sprint, six furlongs in a bullet 1:11.80 for George Papaprodromou), Ce Ce (F&M Sprint and Master Piece, Turf, five furlongs respectively in 1:00.20 and 1:01 for Michael McCarthy) and Beyond Brilliant (Mile, five furlongs in 59.80 for John Shirreffs). In all, there were 188 recorded workouts this morning, 55 on the training track…Today’s 4th race is named in honor of racing Hall of Famer and recently retired Daily Racing Form stalwart Jay Privman.