Flatlined, a five-year-old gelded son of Flatter, fell a neck short of catching Heart to Heart in last month’s $100,000 El Prado, but turned the tables on that rival and a pair of Grade 1 winners in a deep renewal of the $200,000 Ft. Lauderdale (G2) Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Saving ground near the back as speedball Heart to Heart set a pace of :23.23, :48.30, and 1:12:05, Flatlined cut the corner turning for home and then was guided out to the middle course by Joe Bravo. Flatlined produced a strong closing kick racing in tandem with Almanaar and just edged that rival by a neck in a time of 1:41.29 for 1 1/16 miles.
“The Flatters just get better with age, like I had with Flat Out,” trainer Scooter Dickey said. “If they don’t go wrong, they’re at their best at four or five years old. I thought if he ran the race he had last time, he’d have a chance.”
Owned by Brian Hytrek, Rodney Paden, and Ryan Kuhn, Flatlined paid $32.60. Almanaar was three-quarters of a length ahead of Divisidero, the 2016 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) winner. That 5-2 favorite nosed out Heart to Heart, the 2016 Ft. Lauderdale hero, for third.
The Ft. Lauderdale was marred by an upper stretch incident involving Copingaway, who clipped heels with Fire Away, broke down, and was later euthanized.
This was the first graded stakes win for Flatlined, who was reared by the Unbridled’s Song mare Buttercup’s Song. Flatlined’s other stakes triumph occurred last September at Kentucky Downs, when he captured the $149,000 Old Friends, a restricted event, by a neck. His record now stands at 19-5-4-2, $346,765, and Dickey said Flatlined would now be pointed toward the Gulfstream Park Turf H. (G1) on February 11.
Bred in Kentucky by B & B Thoroughbreds and Marty Hughes, Flatlined is a half-brother to the stakes-placed Volare Cantare. His dam is a half to Grade 2 winner Rare Blend, herself the dam of Grade 3 scorer Rare Gift.
