Flightline

[depalma113]

Simply the best race horse that has stepped on a dirt track in the last 50 years. Maybe Spectacular Bid could run with him, but that's about it.

Chased 1:07 and change and won for fun.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

How strong did Flightline look down the stretch...so impressive

It's too bad I'm so jaded these days...I would appreciate it more...LOL

I'm not jaded. I saw him at Del Mar.

Just wish we would see more of him.

[Dave S]

Off to the breeding shed?

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Onesome

Not sure about the 6f time, wouldnt be surprised one of the outriders triggered the beam while trying to get to Epicentre

Credit where credit is due. You called it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/raypaulic...14264366657536

[mostpost]

A few thoughts on Flightline. In my time flowing racing, which goes back to 1952, Flightline is the best I have seen. After today, his average margin of victory is 11.83333 lengths. I challenge any one to find a horse who can top that over any six race stretch of their career.

Eager to see CJ’s figures for the race. Flightline missed the track record by 2/5 of a second on a track that was not particularly fast.

Just my opinion, but I think Flightline’s owners will race him next year. I know finances dictate otherwise, but sometimes it’s about more than money. Sometimes it’s about history.

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

How strong did Flightline look down the stretch...so impressive

It's too bad I'm so jaded these days...I would appreciate it more...LOL

Same applies here....

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by mostpost

A few thoughts on Flightline. In my time flowing racing, which goes back to 1952, Flightline is the best I have seen. After today, his average margin of victory is 11.83333 lengths. I challenge any one to find a horse who can top that over any six race stretch of their career.

Eager to see CJ’s figures for the race. Flightline missed the track record by 2/5 of a second on a track that was not particularly fast.

Just my opinion, but I think Flightline’s owners will race him next year. I know finances dictate otherwise, but sometimes it’s about more than money. Sometimes it’s about history.

Landaluce was pretty dominate, she averaged a 9.3 length margin in 5 races until she sadly died of colic. Flightline's record sounds pretty tough to beat.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Landaluce was pretty dominate, she averaged a 9.3 length margin in 5 races until she sadly died of colic. Flightline's record sounds pretty tough to beat.

As much as I am impressed by Flightline, stats like this are entirely dependent on short careers (as your Landaluce example shows). Horses like Citation and Specatcular Bid and Secretariat ran enough that they got beat sometimes, and didn't win all their races by the length of the grandstand. But their careers were far better than Flightline's.

Flightline's wonderful. But he's also a demonstration that the way you amass a "spotless" record is by not running very often.

[jocko699]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Landaluce was pretty dominate, she averaged a 9.3 length margin in 5 races until she sadly died of colic. Flightline's record sounds pretty tough to beat.

Where did she die of colic? I was always under the impression it was something like Colitis X.

[jocko699]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

As much as I am impressed by Flightline, stats like this are entirely dependent on short careers (as your Landaluce example shows). Horses like Citation and Specatcular Bid and Secretariat ran enough that they got beat sometimes, and didn't win all their races by the length of the grandstand. But their careers were far better than Flightline's.

Flightline's wonderful. But he's also a demonstration that the way you amass a "spotless" record is by not running very often.

Oh for fuck's sake.

[luisbe]

121 BSF

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by jocko699

Oh for fuck's sake.

Sorry, but this reaction is dead wrong.

Imagine if you saw a MLB pitcher come up. He pitches 3 games a year, for 2 years. All of them are no hitters. And then he never pitches again. 6 games, 6 no hitters.

We'd marvel about all of the no hitters. No doubt we would. But we also would understand that a record like that, while unique, is a product of a pitcher who basically almost never played. We wouldn't compare him, on any level, to Cy Young, who won over 500 games, or Nolan Ryan, who had over 5500 strikeouts, or Whitey Ford, who won 10 World Series games over the course of several series.

Flightline IS wonderful. But "average winning margin" is a stat that is produced by a significant DEFICIENCY in his career, which is he doesn't run enough. It's a statistical outlier that would almost surely regress back to something more down to earth if they ran him more.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by jocko699

Where did she die of colic? I was always under the impression it was something like Colitis X.

My bad, I got her confused with Melair who survived colic, but it ended her career.

[azeri98]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Sorry, but this reaction is dead wrong.

Imagine if you saw a MLB pitcher come up. He pitches 3 games a year, for 2 years. All of them are no hitters. And then he never pitches again. 6 games, 6 no hitters.

We'd marvel about all of the no hitters. No doubt we would. But we also would understand that a record like that, while unique, is a product of a pitcher who basically almost never played. We wouldn't compare him, on any level, to Cy Young, who won over 500 games, or Nolan Ryan, who had over 5500 strikeouts, or Whitey Ford, who won 10 World Series games over the course of several series.

Flightline IS wonderful. But "average winning margin" is a stat that is produced by a significant DEFICIENCY in his career, which is he doesn't run enough. It's a statistical outlier that would almost surely regress back to something more down to earth if they ran him more.

So does your theory diminish a pitcher like Sandy Koufax for example who had a short career compared to other great pitchers? His stretch from 1962 to 66 is just insane .He is considered by many as the best ever even though his era of dominance was short just like Flightline. Add Bobby Orr, Bo Jackson or Gale Sayers, just to name a few.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by luisbe

121 BSF

I was more impressed by this effort than the last one. The last effort was a 126, but he was stalking an overmatched long shot on a track that was on the speed favoring side of honest. Today he was chasing as fast a Grade 1 router as you are going to see, they opened up a huge lead on the rest of the field in fast fractions, on a track that if anything was one the was on closer side of honest, and he still had plenty left at the end. It’s a shame the economics may dictate that they are going to retire him because I’d love to see what kind of magic he could perform with a few more starts.