Photo: Coglianese Photos

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Flintshire, who had been finishing close to some of Europe's best earlier this year, put his class on display in winning the $1 million Sword Dancer Stakes (gr. IT) by an easy three lengths Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course.

The 5-year-old son of Dansili out of Dance Routine (by Sadler's Wells) captured his third career grade/group I race and earned another shot at the Breeders' Cup Longines Turf (gr. IT). Flintshire finished second in the Turf last year to now-retired Main Sequence, who won the 2014 edition of the Sword Dancer and went on to sew up end-of-year honors as champion grass horse and champion older horse.

Flintshire, ridden by Vincent Cheminaud and conditioned by legendary French trainer Andre Fabre, stalked the leaders with a ground-saving trip along the hedge throughout the 1 1/2-mile contest. Midway through the final turn, Cheminaud opened him up and he rocketed away from the rest of the field. Halfway down the stretch, he was a commanding four lengths in front, which shortened slightly to three when he hit the wire in a final time of 2:23.77 on a firm course.

"He's a remarkable horse," said Teddy Grimthorpe,  racing manager of Juddmonte Farms." He's just so unbelievably consistent. He's traveled the world. He's won in Hong Kong, he's won in Dubai, and now he's won here. He's a remarkable horse. He's always been a very sound type of horse and the way he races - and the sort of value of the races that are available to him around the world—makes him a really attractive proposition for us."

In Flintshire's last start prior to the Sword Dancer, he ran second by 1 1/4 lengths to multiple champion Treve in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I). Treve was the 2013 Cartier Horse of the Year and a back-to-back winner of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe besides earning multiple highweight titles in France. In the Prix de Saint-Cloud, Flintshire finished ahead of multiple group winner Dolniya, who had defeated him in the Dubai Sheema Classic Presented by Longines (UAE-I).

"It's hugely important to get a win like this before the Arc. We've got his father, we've got his mother, we've got his grandmother, we've got his sister. The people who work on the farms, the people who race him, this is huge for us," Grimthorpe said.

Second choice Red Rifle closed for the runner-up spot, followed by Twilight Eclipse.

"I followed the winner all the way, but I feel like at the quarter pole to the eighth pole he got the jump on me," said Jose Ortiz, the jockey for Red Rifle. "The last sixteenth I was getting back to him, but he was much the best."

War Dancer finished fourth followed by Fixador, Imagining, Messi, and Guardini.

[www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing]