The racing career of the fabulous Flightline is now over, sad to say, which means the time has come for many to try and ascertain his place in the pantheon of all-time great Thoroughbreds in North America.

I assure you that I have not undertaken this endeavor cavalierly.

I bristled when a New York Times headline on Nov. 4 posed the question: “Is Flightline the Greatest Thoroughbred Since Secretariat?”

Some say yes. I do not. That’s why I bristled.

For starters, if Flightline is the greatest Thoroughbred since Secretariat, it would mean that he’s greater than Spectacular Bid. I don’t think so. Not when Spectacular Bid was 24 for 24 in races from seven furlongs to 1 1/4 miles during a career consisting of 30 starts. Talk about greatness.

Spectacular Bid was nine for nine during his 1980 Horse of the Year campaign. He literally ran out of competition. In the final start of Spectacular Bid’s career, no one showed up to run against him in the 1980 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. It was a walkover.

“Although others are generally placed before him in the rankings of the all-time greats, there is no doubt he was as close to the perfect racing machine as any of those before him or after him,” Steve Haskin wrote of Spectacular Bid in the BloodHorse book “Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.”

While I don’t rank Flightline higher than Spectacular Bid, I am willing to go so far as to say that I consider Flightline to be the best since Spectacular Bid.

Discussion of where Flightline stands among the all-time greats understandably has been ramped up following his final race, an 8 1/4-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 5. He broke the BC Classic record for largest winning margin. The BC Classic was first run in 1984.

What makes any attempt to determine where Flightline belongs among the all-time greats an especially tricky proposition is the fact that he raced just six times. To his credit, each of his six appearances under silks resulted in a poetry-in-motion performance and a dominant triumph, including a goose-bumps producing 19 1/4-length victory in Del Mar’s 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic on Sept. 3. As was the case in the BC Classic, Flightline broke the Pacific Classic record for biggest winning margin. The Pacific Classic was first run in 1991.

The vast majority of the North American all-time greats -- horses such as War Admiral, Count Fleet, Citation, Tom Fool, Swaps, Kelso, Dr. Fager, Secretariat, Forego, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid -- did not win all of their first six starts, as did Flightline.

Just how dominant was Flightline? He won his six races by a combined 71 lengths. As far as I can tell, no other North American champion who won their first six starts did so by such a large combined margin. It’s not even close.

The next-highest combined winning margin for a North American champion’s first six starts that I can find was 50 1/2 lengths by the legendary filly Ruffian.

Below is how Flightline compares to the combined winning margin by some all-time greats who won their first six starts:

Margin Horse (Year Foaled)

71 Flightline (2018)
50 1/2 Ruffian (1972)*
31 1/2 Seattle Slew (1974)
31 1/4 Personal Ensign (1984)*
21 1/2 Native Dancer (1950)
16 Man o’ War (1917)
15 3/4 Zenyatta (2004)
9 1/2 Colin (1905)

*Female

ON MY MOUNT RUSHMORE

The four horses on my personal Mount Rushmore in terms of being the greatest to ever grace the North America racing stage are, in order, Man o’ War, Secretariat, Citation and Kelso.

Keep in mind Flightline did not break a single track record.

Man o’ War tied or broke world, American or track records at seven different distances -- one mile, 1 1/16 miles, 1 1/8 miles, 1 1/4 miles, 1 3/8 miles, 1 1/2 miles and 1 5/8 miles. When he won the Belmont Stakes by 20 lengths in 1920, it was a 1 3/8-mile race. Man o’ War broke the world record for 1 3/8 miles by 2 3/5 seconds (or roughly 13 lengths). It stood as the fastest 1 3/8 miles run on dirt for 71 years. While Flightline won his six races by a combined 71 lengths, Man o’ War won one race by 100 lengths.

Secretariat ended a 25-year Triple Crown drought in 1973. All these years later, he holds the record for having run the fastest Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in history.

Citation swept the Triple Crown in 1948. Remarkably, he won 19 races as a 3-year-old. Do you think we will ever again see a champion win 19 races in one year?

Kelso was a five-time Horse of the Year.

Years ago for Xpressbet.com, I came up with my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries. I tweaked the list from time to time. My inspiration for creating this particular Top 100 was the aforementioned BloodHorse book in which there is a list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.

The Top 10 on the BloodHorse list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century: (1) Man o’ War, (2) Secretariat, (3) Citation, (4), Kelso, (5) Count Fleet, (6) Dr. Fager, (7) Native Dancer, (8), Forego, (9) Seattle Slew, (10) Spectacular Bid.

The Top 10 on my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th AND 21st Centuries: (1) Man o’ War, (2) Secretariat, (3) Citation, (4) Kelso, (5) Spectacular Bid, (6) Native Dancer, (7) Dr. Fager, (8) Seattle Slew, (9) Count Fleet, (10) Affirmed.

I have a major disagreement with the BloodHorse’s list regarding Ruffian. She is ranked No. 11 on my list, which consists of horses to have raced in both the 20th and 21st centuries. BloodHorse has Ruffian ranked No. 35 for the 20th century alone. That, to me, is way too low.

When Ruffian ran in a race restricted to fillies, she never lost, almost always winning by a comfortable margin and with consummate ease. Each time Ruffian ran in a stakes races, she broke or tied a track or stakes record. Author Walter Farley once suggested that the big, powerful, almost black filly was more like his fictional legend, the Black Stallion, than any colt he had ever seen.

As the years have rolled by since the turn of the century, I found it increasingly difficult to find room for contemporary horses on my Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries: Consequently, this past July, I decided to construct a list of my Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century and another list of Top 100 Racehorses of the 21st Century:

FIRST STEP IN FLIGHTLINE RANKING PROCESS

Before determining where to put Flightline on my updated list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries, I first had to determine where he goes on my Top 100 of the 21st Century so far, a list headed American Pharoah, who ended an agonizingly long 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015.

In a close call, I decided to put Flightline at No. 1, one notch above American Pharoah. To repeat, this was a close call.

There are three main reasons I put Flightline at No. 1.

First, while American Pharoah was a marvelous racehorse, to be sure, I don’t think any his performances came close to Flightline’s spectacular Pacific Classic.

Second, Flightline’s Beyer Speed Figures are superior to American Pharoah’s. Flightline was credited with a 121 Beyer for his BC Classic victory. American Pharoah’s BC Classic figure was a 120, the highest of his 11-race career. Flightline’s career-best Beyer was the 126 he received in the Pacific Classic.

Third, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, trainer of American Pharoah, has made the observation that the way Flightline floated over the ground when running was very similar to American Pharoah. Baffert also said a number of times that Flightline this year at age 4 was much like what would have been seen from American Pharoah if he had raced at 4.

But because American Pharoah didn’t race at 4, I have no choice but to evaluate 4-year-old Flightline vs. 3-year-old American Pharoah. And in terms of ranking the two superstars, I felt the right thing to do was to rank the 4-year-old higher than the 3-year-old.

NEXT STEP: TOP 100 OF 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES

After putting Flightline at No. 1 on my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 21st Century, I then had to determine where he should go on my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries combined. This was a much harder task.

I wanted to be fair to Flightline. But I also wanted to be fair to all those other horses who earned -- I repeat, earned -- their way onto the list prior to Flightline, unlike people who have said Flightline is the greatest horse since Secretariat.

It seemed a prudent approach to go back and take a look at my rankings of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries before I made the decision to split it into two lists, one for each century. I had American Pharoah ranked No. 15.

Considering I decided to rank Flightline higher than American Pharoah, that meant Flightline would go somewhere from 1-15, with American Pharoah sliding down one notch to No. 16.

But No. 15 is the highest I can go with Flightline. For me, he can’t go even just one notch higher at No. 14. Nope. No way. That’s because if I put Flightline at No. 14, he would be ranked higher than Forego. I am not going to put Flightline above Forego, who was one of the greatest geldings in history, a three-time Horse of the Year.

And that’s how I settled on ranking Flightline at No. 15 on my list of the Thoroughbreds in the 20th and 21st Centuries to have won in North America.

As noted earlier, I do not think Flightline is the greatest Thoroughbred since Secretariat. But by ranking Flightline at No. 15, not only do I put him one notch higher than American Pharoah, it’s certainly a huge compliment to Flightline that I put him above such other champions to come along since Spectacular Bid as Zenyatta, Sunday Silence, Cigar, Arrogate, Easy Goer, Ghostzapper, Curlin, Justify, Alysheba, Personal Ensign, Rachel Alexandra, Landaluce and Skip Away.

As in the case of American Pharoah, while the champions named in the paragraph above were all outstanding equine athletes, none ran a race equal to, or better than, Flightline’s Pacific Classic, in my view. Arrogate probably came the closest to such a performance, and he did so not once, but twice. First, when he won the Travers Stakes in a record-breaking, Secretariat-like performance. And then there was Arrogate’s incredible Dubai World Cup victory when, despite a horrible start, he rocketed home from last to win going away while defeating eventual 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner.

Then why do I not rank Arrogate higher than I do? The primary reason for that are Arrogate’s three consecutive defeats in the final three starts of his career. That tarnished his record following his tremendous win in the Dubai World Cup.

In Arrogate’s next start after his trip to Dubai, he lost the San Diego Handicap by 15 1/4 lengths. He then was unable to beat Collected in the Pacific Classic. And finally, he lost the BC Classic by 6 1/4 lengths, a race in which Gun Runner emphatically avenged his defeat to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup.

FEEL FREE TO SEE IT DIFFERENTLY

I will say that these days there does not seem to be much tolerance for a difference of opinion. This, I believe, has been exacerbated by social media. But if it’s your view that Flightline should be ranked higher than No. 15, that’s perfectly fine with me. Or if you think he should be ranked lower, that’s okay with me, too.

I am sure that however you would decide to rank the all-time greats undoubtedly would be very different than how I’ve done it. Actually, when you get right down to it, a difference of opinion is the very essence of horse racing. That’s because when it comes to horse racing, people do express a difference of opinion each day throughout the world via wagering.

Below you will find three lists. First, there is my Top 100 of the 20th and 21st Centuries combined. Second, there is my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century only. And third, there is my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 21st Century so far.

MY LIST OF THE TOP 100 RACEHORSES TO HAVE WON IN NORTH AMERICA DURING THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES

(In parentheses, when applicable, is where the horse ranked on BloodHorse’s list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century)


1. Man o’ War (1)
2. Secretariat* (2)
3. Citation* (3)
4. Kelso (4)
5. Spectacular Bid (10)
6. Native Dancer (7)
7. Dr. Fager (6)
8. Seattle Slew* (9)
9. Count Fleet* (5)
10. Affirmed* (12)
11. Ruffian (35)
12. Swaps (20)
13. Phar Lap (22)
14. Forego (8)
15. Flightline
16. American Pharoah*
17. Buckpasser (14)
18. Damascus (16)
19. Round Table (17)
20. War Admiral* (13)
21. Tom Fool (11)
22. Colin (15)
23. John Henry (23)
24. Zenyatta
25. Regret (71)
26. Seabiscuit (25)
27. Whirlaway (26)
28. Sunday Silence (31)
29. Exterminator (29)
30. Cigar (18)
31. Nashua (24)
32. Arrogate
33. Alydar (27)
34. Easy Goer (34)
35. Ghostzapper
36. Curlin
37. Personal Ensign (48)
38. Alysheba (42)
39. Rachel Alexandra
40. Justify*
41. Bold Ruler (19)
42. Landaluce
43. Shared Belief
44. California Chrome
45. Gallant Man (36)
46. Tiznow
47. Equipoise (21)
48. Gun Runner
49. Gallant Fox* (28)
50. Sysonby (30)
51. Northern Dancer (43)
52. Assault* (33)
53. Armed (39)
54. Sir Barton* (49)
55. Omaha* (61)
56. Ack Ack (44)
57. Discovery (37)
58. Majestic Prince (46)
59. Arts and Letters (67)
60. Stymie (41)
61. Pan Zareta
62. Challedon (38)
63. Noor (69)
64. Skip Away (32)
65. Busher (40)
66. Gallorette (45)
67. Coaltown (47)
68. Sword Dancer (53)
69. Riva Ridge (57)
70. Grey Lag (54)
71. Devil Diver (55)
72. Dahlia (50)
73. All Along (68)
74. Invasor
75. Zev (56)
76. Ta Wee (80)
77. Twilight Tear (59)
78. Native Diver (60)
79. Holy Bull (64)
80. Precisionist
81. Inside Information (67)
82. Shuvee (70)
83. Twenty Grand (52)
84. Sham
85. Alsab (65)
86. Lady’s Secret (76)
87. Genuine Risk (91)
88. A.P. Indy
89. Silver Charm (63)
90. Susan’s Girl (51)
91. Cicada (62)
92. Go for Wand (72)
93. Slew o’ Gold (58)
94. Bald Eagle (74)
95. Exceller (96)
96. Wise Dan
97. Tim Tam
98. Top Flight (66)
99. Manila
100. Princess Rooney

*Triple Crown winner

MY LIST OF THE TOP 100 RACEHORSES TO HAVE WON IN NORTH AMERICA DURING THE 20TH CENTURY

(In parentheses, when applicable, is where the horse ranked on BloodHorse’s list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century)

1. Man o’ War (1)
2. Secretariat* (2)
3. Citation* (3)
4. Kelso (4)
5. Spectacular Bid (10)
6. Native Dancer (7)
7. Dr. Fager (6)
8. Seattle Slew* (9)
9. Count Fleet* (5)
10. Affirmed* (12)
11. Ruffian (35)
12. Swaps (20)
13. Phar Lap (22)
14. Forego (8)
15. Buckpasser (14)
16. Damascus (16)
17. Round Table (17)
18. War Admiral* (13)
19. Tom Fool (11)
20. Colin (15)
21. John Henry (23)
22. Regret (71)
23. Seabiscuit (25)
24. Whirlaway (26)
25. Sunday Silence (31)
26. Exterminator (29)
27. Cigar (18)
28. Nashua (24)
29. Alydar (27)
30. Easy Goer (34)
31. Curlin
32. Alysheba (42)
33. Personal Ensign (48)
34. Bold Ruler (19)
35. Landaluce
36. Equipoise (21)
37. Gallant Fox* (28)
38. Sysonby (30)
39. Gallant Man (36)
40. Assault* (33)
41. Armed (39)
42. Sir Barton* (49)
43. Northern Dancer (43)
44. Omaha* (61)
45. Ack Ack (44)
46. Discovery (37)
47. Majestic Prince (46)
48. Arts and Letters (67)
49. Stymie (41)
50. Pan Zareta
51. Challedon (38)
52. Noor (69)
53. Skip Away (32)
54. Busher (40)
55. Gallorette (45)
56. Coaltown (47)
57. Sword Dancer (53)
58. Riva Ridge (57)
59. Grey Lag (54)
60. Devil Diver (55)
61. Dahlia (50)
62. All Along (68)
63. Zev (56)
64. Ta Wee (80)
65. Twilight Tear (59)
66. Native Diver (60)
67. Holy Bull (64)
68. Precisionist
69. Inside Information (67)
70. Shuvee (70)
71. Twenty Grand (52)
72. Sham
73. Alsab (65)
74. Lady’s Secret (76)
75. Genuine Risk (91)
76. A.P. Indy
77. Silver Charm (63)
78. Susan’s Girl (51)
79. Cicada (62)
80. Go for Wand (72)
81. Slew o’ Gold (58)
82. Bald Eagle (74)
83. Exceller (96)
84. Tim Tam
85. Top Flight (66)
86. Manila
87. Princess Rooney
88. Johnstown (73)
89. Two Lea (77)
90. Miesque (82)
91. Hoist the Flag
92. Ancient Title
93. Lure (85)
94. Gallant Bloom (79)
95. Cougar II
96. Eight Thirty (78)
97. Gamely (87)
98. Bayakoa (95)
99. Formal Gold
100. Carry Back (83)

*Triple Crown winner

MY LIST OF THE TOP 100 RACEHORSES TO HAVE WON IN NORTH AMERICA DURING THE 21ST CENTURY SO FAR

1. Flightline
2. American Pharoah*
3. Zenyatta
4. Arrogate
5. Ghostzapper
6. Curlin
7. Rachel Alexandra
8. Justify*
9. Shared Belief
10. California Chrome
11. Tiznow
12. Gun Runner
13. Invasor
14. Wise Dan
15. Point Given
16. Goldikova
17. Beholder
18. Enable
19. Barbaro
20. Smarty Jones
21. Bernardini
22. Azeri
23. Lava Man
24. Bricks and Mortar
25. Rags to Riches
26. Candy Ride
27. Blame
28. Pleasantly Perfect
29. Kona Gold
30. Mineshaft
31. Saint Liam
32. Intercontinental
33. Ouija Board
34. Life Is Good
35. Knicks Go
36. Authentic
37. Tepin
38. Essential Quality
39. Afleet Alex
40. Songbird
41. Monomoy Girl
42. Xtra Heat
43. Game On Dude
44. Mucho Macho Man
45. Empire Maker
46. Congaree
47. Conduit
48. I’ll Have Another
49. Kitten’s Joy
50. Roses in May
51. Blind Luck
52. Havre de Grace
53. Royal Delta
54. Big Brown
55. Lost in the Fog
56. Midnight Bisou
57. Cape Blanco
58. Gio Ponti
59. Lookin At Lucky
60. English Channel
61. Medaglia d’Oro
62. Tiz the Law
63. Midnight Lute
64. Street Sense
65. Discreet Cat
66. Lawyer Ron
67. Nyquist
68. Ashado
69. Monarchos
70. Quality Road
71. Fantastic Light
72. Flintshire
73. High Chaparral
74. Lady Eli
75. Funny Cide
76. Rock Hard Ten
77. Raven’s Pass
78. Maximum Security
79. Frosted
80. Gamine
81. Unique Bella
82. Uncle Mo
83. City of Light
84. Accelerate
85. Mitole
86. Groupie Doll
87. Lemon Drop Kid
88. Runhappy
89. Aptitude
90. Commentator
91. Lido Palace
92. Sightseek
93. Surfside
94. Sistercharlie
95. Fort Larned
96. Street Cry
97. Left Bank
98. Vino Rosso
99. Animal Kingdom
100. Roy H

*Triple Crown winner