TOP 6: FLIGHTLINE (The UDEFEATED with Great Margins)

Flightline could be described as one of the fastest horses in history. The blazingly fast bay ran undefeated throughout his entire racing career with an average winning margin of 10.125 lengths. Flightline’s short but memorable career included winning the Grade I Malibu Stakes in 2021 and the Metropolitan Handicap, Pacific Classic, and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2022. His incredible victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 8 ¼ lengths was the largest winning margin in the history of the race. In the 2022 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, he was given a rating of 139, the highest ever awarded to a runner on the dirt, beating Cigar’s rating of 135.

Flightline was an undeniably fast horse on the racetrack, and his trainer, John W. Sadler, joked that he only lost to inanimate objects like a door latch or a wall. An energetic horse, especially in his youth, Flightline wanted to run at full speed all the time but was also prone to small accidents. The most serious accident happened when he was two; he was startled while being saddled for a training session and hit himself on a stall latch, leaving an L-shaped scar on his right hip near the tail.

The white spots on Flightline’s neck are from a port that was placed for antibiotics during recovery, which prevented him from racing as a two-year-old. He also suffered a hoof crack that interrupted his three-year-old season followed later by a strained hock that delayed the start of his four-year-old campaign. Despite his status as a talented racehorse, he could be clumsy in a unique way.