‘It feels unreal.’ Flightline a dream come true for Jane Lyon and Summer Wind Farm.

Jane Lyon never expected to be in this position.

That’s not to say the owner of Summer Wind Farm outside Georgetown didn’t work for it, wasn’t smart about it, didn’t put her heart and soul into being in this spot at this place and time. To be the breeder and co-owner of the fastest and most talked-about Thoroughbred today, Flightline, on the eve of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, well, no one could dream that.

“It feels unreal,” Lyon said last week inside her home at Summer Wind, the property she and her late husband purchased in 1995. “It feels like a miracle. And I feel like the most fortunate person in horse racing right now.”

After Frank Lyon Jr.’s death in 2015, he left the property to his beloved wife, whose dream it had been to own a horse farm in the Bluegrass in the first place. Jane Lyon had loved horses from her time as a little girl in Little Rock, Arkansas, when her father would take her to a riding stable, not to ride, but just to see the horses. Her first time at the races was on a date at Oaklawn Park. When she watched Secretariat win the Triple Crown in 1973, that love became a passion.

Frank Lyon, an industry titan in Arkansas, former owner of Coca-Cola Bottling of Arkansas among other businesses, loved horse racing but wasn’t all that crazy about the ups and downs of the business. Meanwhile, his wife enjoyed a pure love of the Thoroughbreds themselves.

“The horses have a special essence about them. They seem noble,” she said, adding that from the time she entered into the business, “There is one constant and that is the horse comes first. Period.”

In fact, when she and her husband first started selling a yearling or two at the sales, she ran into one of the auctioneers at Keeneland. After introducing herself, the auctioneer said, “I recognize you. You’re the lady who cries when her horses sell and when they don’t.”

“I had a steep learning curve,” she said. “I have wonderful people around me. Sometimes I can’t separate my emotions about the horse.”

In 2014, the Lyons paid $2.1 million for Littleprincessemma, the dam to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who was a 2-year-old at the time. Frank Lyons died five months after American Pharoah won the Belmont. Littleprincessemma’s 2016 filly by Tapit, Chasing Yesterday, was named in honor of Frank Lyons and raced under the Summer Wind colors. She went on to win five of her seven starts before being retired in 2019.

Lyon has also bred Moonshine Memories, her first Grade 1 winner in 2017; Game Winner, who won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and finished fifth in the 2019 Kentucky Derby; and McKinzie, who ran second in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

At the 2016 Keeneland November Sale, Lyon purchased the Indian Charlie mare Feathered for $2.36 million. In 2017, Feathered was bred to the outstanding stallion Tapit — “We always try to find the best stallion for the best mare,” Lyon said — and Flightline was foaled on March 14, 2018, at Summer Wind.

West Point Thoroughbreds purchased the yearling for $1 million at the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sales in 2019. Lyon had not previously entered into ownership partnerships — “Frank didn’t like them,” she said — but she accepted West Point’s Terry Finley’s offer of a 25 percent share to join Hronis Racing, Siena Farm and Woodford Racing.

“I honestly don’t know why I stayed in for Flightline, because I had not done that before,” she said. “I was only approached just before the horse went in the (sales) ring. I said, ‘Yes.’ I was asked what Frank would say now and he would have said, ‘Why did you sell any of the horse?’”

Trained by John Sadler, Flightline won his debut by 13 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita on April 24, 2021, before an injury kept him off the track until Sept. 5 when he won an allowance optional claiming race at Del Mar by 12 3/4 lengths. Three months later, he ran away with the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths.

Flightline has raced just twice in 2022, but both have been spectacular. After a six-month layoff, he won the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap by 6 lengths on June 11. Then he blew everyone away with his 19 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 3, posting an eye-popping 126 Beyer Speed Figure. (Note: The highest Beyer in a Breeders’ Cup race is 124.)

“It’s been like a movie,” Lyon said. “No one could have anticipated anything like this. When he was injured as a younger horse, we thought well this one might not make it to the races. But we started hearing in his training, and from other trainers, this horse has something different. This horse moves differently than most horses.”

She has delivered a foal while wearing a cocktail dress. She has seven dogs at her house and several others that she has taken in around the farm. She has written two children’s books about animals. She is notorious for carrying carrots to feed her “babies” and for kissing her Thoroughbreds before they race.

“She’s very passionate about the horses,” said farm manager Bobby Spalding.

In addition, she spends time back at Wingmead, the 14,000-acre farm and estate in Arkansas the Lyon family purchased in 1976, that is on the National Register of Historic Places and home to one of the nation’s most famous duck-hunting clubs. She has two college-age grandchildren and helps her daughter Karen Bailey, who founded the Kentucky Wildlife Center.

These days Lyon is busier than ever. Guests are arriving for the Breeders’ Cup. She has farm affairs to manage, her staff to consult, more preparations to be made.

Always nervous before a race, Lyon says she expects that will be taken to another level come Saturday.

“I’m a wreck because I’m worrying about the horse,” she said. “I think it might be a little worse because this poor horse has so much riding on his shoulder. Who would have ever expected to have a horse that’s deemed the fastest horse in the world, the best horse in the world, maybe one of the best of all time?”

When a parting visitor wished her luck and added that he hoped all the horses in the Classic come back safely, she agreed, before adding, with a smile, “And when we finish first.”

She also said this: “I wish so much that Frank was here to see this because he would have loved it.”

2022 Breeders’ Cup

What: World championships of Thoroughbred horse racing, including 14 races over two days

When: Nov. 4-5

Where: Keeneland Race Course in Lexington

This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 6:30 AM.

John Clay

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4218

John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys. Support my work with a digital subscription