California Thoroughbred Foundation trustee John Sadler did a phenomenal job managing the career of Flightline, who was named the 2022 Horse of the Year in late January. Flightline captured the imagination of people inside and outside of the industry with his brilliant undefeated career. In addition to his Horse of the Year title, Flightline received an Eclipse Award as the champion older dirt male, and he earned a total of $4,514,800 during his career.
Sadler trained Flightline for Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, breeder Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing. A son of Tapit—Feathered, by Indian Charlie, Flightline showed promise from his early days of training. He won his six starts by a combined 71 lengths. And while his 81⁄4-length margin of victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) is a record for that race, Flightline put on perhaps his most impressive perfor-mance in the Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar, where he demolished the field by 191⁄4 lengths.
Sadler was winning his fourth Pacific Classic in the last five years, following Accel-erate in 2018, Higher Power in 2019, and Tripoli in 2021. Sadler also won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Accelerate, who was named that year’s champion older dirt male.
Sadler’s 2022 year went well beyond Flightline. He saddled the winners of 126 races, and his runners had total purse earnings of $8,959,895. Congratulations, John, from your fellow Foundation trustees.
