Bloodstock agent David Ingordo’s extraordinary success stems from his imagination, the ability to see beyond what is in a young Thoroughbred and project what might be.

“It’s like looking at LeBron James when he was in high school, maybe even junior high,” said Ingordo.

Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Eclipse Sportswire)

For Ingordo, 46, the equine equivalent of the NBA legend has come around twice. The magnificent Zenyatta marked his first horse of a lifetime. She swept her first 19 career starts and emerged as the only female to capture the Breeders’ Cup Classic when she staged one of her customary dramatic rallies in 2009. Incredibly, she was purchased for $60,000, far less than expected, making her one of the great bargains in Thoroughbred auction history.

Ingordo went to a cool $1 million for hip number 80 at Fasig-Tipton’s 2019 Saratoga yearling sale — and was rewarded with his second horse of a lifetime in Flightline.

The bay son of Tapit snagged his attention the first time he laid eyes on him. Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Farm in Georgetown, Ky., had invited Ingordo and Bill Farish of Lane’s End to visit in early 2019. She wanted their opinion on a different Tapit yearling, a half-brother (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah who would be named Triple Tap.

Ingordo’s eye kept drifting to the paddock mate, another son of Tapit. It happened so often that Farish needed to remind him of their purpose. In the months ahead, Ingordo kept thinking about that other Tapit, who would be named Flightline. He paid special attention to him on succeeding visits.

“He just had the look of the kind of horse I like,” Ingordo said. “Is that a super-scientific answer? It’s not. His physical structure kept drawing me to him.”

Ingordo brings the advantage of having been around horses for a lifetime. His mother, Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, was employed by Jerry Moss, Zenyatta’s owner, as his long-time racing manager. In addition, she was the business manager for the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. His father, Jerry, worked as an agent for many of the West Coast’s finest riders, including Laffit Pincay Jr.

“I’ve been around it basically since birth,” Ingordo noted. “To put a value on that kind of experience and having it be part of your life, you can’t. I think it gives me an edge.

“It’s like if your parents were chefs and you were in the kitchen your whole life. You just learn how to do it. And then when you have a passion for it, it makes you double trouble.”

Unbeaten star Flightline. (Eclipse Sportswire)

In a deal brokered by Ingordo, Terry Finley’s West Point Thoroughbreds purchased Flightline and owns him in partnership with Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Woodford Racing, and breeder Summer Wind. Finley began working with Ingordo in 2017 and views it as one of the best decisions he ever made.

“You talk to anyone in the world and David Ingordo is in the top tier of people who are selecting and managing bloodstock,” Finley said.

Still, assessing racing prospects is such an inexact science. Ingordo readily acknowledges that he has had his share of misses – and he is hardly alone.

“I classify it as an art and an intuitive process and very instinctual,” he said.

The process starts with physical inspections of countless horses at sales. “You cannot put a saddle on a catalogue page,” Ingordo said. “They can have all the pedigree in the world, but if they look like my Jack Russell, they’re not going to win big races.”

Flightline checked every box from a physical standpoint. “I just saw him and said, ‘Man, that’s my kind of horse,’ ” he said. “He had the frame. Horses have frames they fill into. I don’t like a horse that’s finished the day I look at him. For my eye, I want to see them improve every time I see them and I want them to have the framework to get better and better. I don’t want the day I buy them to be their best day.”

For all of his experience, for all of his imagination, Ingordo never envisioned that Flightline would enter the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday as an overwhelming favorite, having won five lifetime starts by a combined 62 ¾ lengths for trainer John Sadler. There was no way to tell that the 4-year-old would deliver a performance reminiscent of Secretariat’s 1973 Belmont Stakes in dominating the Sept. 3 TVG Pacific Classic Stakes by 19 ¼ lengths at Del Mar in his most recent start.

“Nobody, I don’t care who you are, could have predicted what this horse has become,” Ingordo said.

He noted how important it is that horses with vast potential go into the right hands once they are sold. Sadler stayed patient through various setbacks with Flightline. He refused to yield to pressure to run more often. Every race he chose proved to be perfect.

The partners stuck to their vow of following Sadler’s lead, allowing him to call the shots without any trace of a second guess.

“I’m proud of the partnership. They never wavered,” Finley said. “Obviously, a couple of small things came up with him that prevented him from having a more extensive campaign. But the partnership overall, we’ve all been troupers and conducted ourselves the right way.”

As gratifying as Zenyatta and Flightline have been for Ingordo and his wife, trainer Cherie DeVaux, he remains a man on a mission. A third horse of a lifetime has to be out there somewhere.