DEL MAR, Calif. – It has been, so far, the perfect summer for Flightline. His Saturday morning workouts have been requisite, and he’s delivered the goods each week, looking as though there’s been no regression since his brilliant victory in the Met Mile on June 11. At the post position draw Tuesday afternoon for the Pacific Classic, Flightline landed post 5 in a field of six, outside his primary rivals and affording him the chance to recover if, as he is wont, he doesn’t leave the gate cleanly. Now all he has to do is prove that for a horse who’s raced just four times, never beyond a mile and never around two turns, he can stretch out successfully against proven 1 1/4-mile horses in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic Saturday at Del Mar. So far, his talent has trumped experience, or, in the case of the Met Mile, the home-field advantage for horses based in New York. Nothing has happened in recent weeks to make his trainer, John Sadler, believe he won’t continue to excel. “He doesn’t have to be better going a mile and a quarter compared to a mile, just the same,” Sadler said at his Del Mar barn the other morning. “I know they say don’t say anything till they’ve done it, but based on his pedigree, his action, he should do it. Sometimes there are horses who are outliers.” :: DRF's Del Mar headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more Flightline is an outlier. He’s raced just four times, but has been breathtaking every time, winning by a combined margin of 43 1/2 lengths with Beyer Speed Figures ranging from 105 to 118. That talent, and the way he’s trained – fast, but controlled, switching off early instead of wanting to get it on – has left Sadler becalmed. “He couldn’t be doing any better,” Sadler said. “I’m relaxed because everything’s gone so well. It’s not like we’ve missed anything. And he loves it down here.” Flightline, by Tapit, won at Del Mar last September in his second start, in a performance that had fans clamoring for him to run back in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Sadler and the colt’s ownership group – headed by his main client, Hronis Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds – elected to take the long view. Flightline didn’t race again until the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26, which he won by 11 1/2 lengths with the highest figure of his career, and then after missing an intended start in March came off a near six-month layoff to pummel his rivals in the Met Mile. Jon White, the morning-line maker at Del Mar, made Flightline the 1-5 favorite in the Pacific Classic, a Win and You’re in for the BC Classic at Keeneland. His main rival is Country Grammer, proven at the distance with victories at the Grade 1 or Group 1 level in the Hollywood Gold Cup and Dubai World Cup. He does not have the natural talent of Flightline – who does? – but he’s a tenacious grinder. “He likes a mile and quarter. This is what he wants to do,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert, who sent out Country Grammer to a second-place finish in the Grade 2 San Diego earlier this meet going 1 1/16 miles. “Distance is his friend.” Baffert has been one of the Saturday morning regulars, watching Flightline drill before turning attention to his runners. He knows what he’s up against. “We’re gonna need the Stanford Marching Band,” he said, referencing the infamous 1982 football game where Cal beat Stanford on a crazy, game-ending kickoff return aided by the Stanford band wandering on the field. :: Get Del Mar Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day. Country Grammer lost the San Diego by 2 1/2 lengths to Royal Ship, whose best effort at 1 1/4 miles came when second to Country Grammer in last year’s Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Royal Ship is trained by Richard Mandella, who is doubling up with the longshot Extra Hope, who was a close third after taking the scenic route in the Grade 3 Cougar II going 1 1/2 miles last time out. “He’s just bloomed down here,” Mandella said. “Here’s the Soul of the Matter,” Mandella said, tongue in cheek, referencing some of his Pacific Classic runners and all his winners. “Do we Dare and Go? It would be Pleasantly Perfect to win this race. I’d love to be the Beholder of the trophy. I said to my Best Pal, maybe we can Siphon it out. And then we’ll Catch a Flight!” Express Train, who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year, is making his first start in four months. Stilleto Boy was third in the San Diego last time out. The Pacific Classic is race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific. It is part of a Rainbow 6 sequence that will have a mandatory payout, and includes three other graded stakes races. It’s the biggest day of the season. Get ready for takeoff.