Why Did Flightline Retire After the Breeders’ Cup?

Why Did Flightline Retire After the Breeders’ Cup?

The finish of the Breeders’ Cup Classic of 2022 left no doubt in any spectator’s mind who is the best horse in the world on dirt. Flightline made mincemeat of his competition, coasting home by a widening 8 ¼ lengths against the few horses who dared line up against him.

For one shining moment, there was finally one thing that all racing fans could agree on.

Then, just as quickly, he was gone. Not a full twenty-four hours after his crowning win, Flightline’s retirement was announced. Instead of training and racing, Flightline will journey to Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky, where he will breed mares for a $200,000 fee.

Many racing fans were stunned, and felt disappointed to know that Flightline’s racing career had come to an end. Why, they asked, had he retired after only six starts?

No More Worlds Left to Conquer

It could be argued that, in those six starts, Flightline had answered all of the questions asked of him by many horse racing betting experts, including TwinSpires. He ran blistering sprints. He stretched to classic distances. He defeated all comers, and many horses were afraid of meeting him.

In decades past, a champion such as Flightline would be burdened with weight in handicap races, in an attempt to even the playing field. However, handicap races are few and far between, and even those that are still run are reluctant to assign horses high weights, for fear of scaring off superstars.

Unless Flightline were to decrease his layoff times or attempt a run on turf- neither of which his connections have ever hinted at- it can be argued that there is not much left for Flightline in the United States.

The Risk of Injury

The Breeders’ Cup Classic was a moment of glory for Flightline, but it resulted in a depressing career-ending injury for Grade I Travers Stakes winner Epicenter, who fractured a foreleg in the early parts of the race and was pulled up.

Thankfully, it seems that Epicenter’s surgery was successful, and should his healing continue, he will enter what will hopefully be a lucrative stud career.

However, his injury served as a sobering reminder that racehorses are fragile creatures. One wrong step could end a horse’s career, or even his life. Of course, this can happen in any setting- horses have been known to injure themselves while laying down in their stalls, after all- but there is no denying the fact that statistically, a racehorse is far less likely to injure himself after he retires from racing.

The Value at Stud

Perhaps the least sentimental reason for Flightline’s retirement was the most enticing for his connections.

As per Equibase.com, Flightline has career earnings of $4,514,800 as a racehorse- hardly a sum to sneeze at! If he were to continue in peak form next year, he could possibly more than double that, particularly if he were to travel abroad to Saudi Arabia or Dubai.

However, as mentioned before, Flightline is entering stud and will command, in his first season, a fee of $200,000.

Popular stallions can book upwards of 100 mares in a season, and more should they be moved to the Southern Hemisphere to breed during the summer months. This means that Flightline could make as much as $20,000,000 from fees during his first season alone. Should his popularity continue, Flightline has the potential to earn hundreds of millions of dollars as a sire.

His sustained popularity is, of course, something that remains to be seen. There is no way to tell whether Flightline will be able to pass on his talent to the next generation. However, Flightline is by Tapit, and sons of Tapit have proven extremely popular and successful sires in recent years. Tapwrit and Prospect Park are among the top 50 first-crop sires in the US; Cupid, Divining Rod, Mohaymen, and Iron Fist are top second-crop sires; and Tonalist has topped his father for 2022, coming in at number four on the general sire list.

As sad as Flightline’s retirement is for racing fans, when viewed analytically, the decision makes sense. Those who enjoyed following his racing career can take heart in the fact that, come 2026, his first babies will seek to carry on his legacy.