Flatter rang in the New Year on a winning note when his 5-year-old son Flatlined captured the G2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park Jan. 14.
“The Flatters just get better with age, like I had with Flat Out,” said trainer Scooter Dickey, who saddled Flat Out for a victory in the 2011 G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup when the horse was 5 years old.
Going off at odds of 15-1, Flatlined rallied to victory on the outside while holding off a late-running Almanaar in the final strides of the Fort Lauderdale. He registered his first graded stakes victory by a neck under jockey Joe Bravo and completed the 1 1/16-miles distance over a firm turf course in 1:41.29.
The improving gelding previously finished second in a photo finish in Gulfstream’s El Prado Stakes Dec. 17. “I thought if he ran the race he had last time, he’d have a chance,” said Dickey. The trainer added that Flatlined would be pointed next to the G1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap Feb. 11.
Flatlined broke his maiden over the Gulfstream turf last season and won the $150,000 Old Friends at Kentucky Downs in September. In all, he holds a record of 5-1-2 from 19 starts, for earnings of $346,765.
Out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Buttercup’s Song, Flatlined was bred by B & B Thoroughbreds Inc. and Marty Hughes and was purchased for $65,000 out of the Denali Stud consignment at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale.
In 2016, Flatter sired 11 GSHs, 6 G1SH and 5 GSWs, including G1 winners Taris and Paola Queen, and graded stakes victors Upstart, Ami’s Flatter and Kobe’s Back. The aforementioned Paola Queen sold for $1.7 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Flatter will stand for $35,000 in 2017.