LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Flat Out is taking Scooter Dickey places the 70-year-old trainer has never been. He’s hoping their next trip is to the winner’s circle after the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Flat Out is the best horse of Dickey’s nearly 50-year career and the first to win a Grade 1 stakes for him. He came to Dickey as a promising 2-year-old in 2008, and the trainer has seen Flat Out through a history of foot problems to reach North America’s richest race.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Dickey said, standing inside a stall piled with bags of feed. “Come Saturday, I’ll get nervous about the time we start putting the saddle on.”
Dickey will have family and friends on hand Saturday at Churchill Downs, where he’s based. Dana, his wife of 48 years who has an incurable liver disease and has waited years to receive a transplant, will gather her strength to attend.
At 6-1 on the morning line, Flat Out earned a spot in the Classic by winning the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont last month over Drosselmeyer and Stay Thirsty, two of the 11 horses he’ll face in the 1 1/4-mile race.
Flat Out has been one of
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