Classic Empire

Originally charged with administering Clenbuterol to his horse and facing a possible two-year suspension, trainer Jeffrey Englehart was cleared Friday by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU). The positive was found in an unraced, unnamed horse out of the mare Fast Heart that Englehart purchased for $14,000 at the OBS auction on June 15. He argued that he did not give the horse the drug and that it was had to have been given to the horse prior to his purchase at OBS. Englehart and his attorney requested...

Frankie's Empire (Classic Empire) either missed, or ignored, the memo that the longest shot on the board usually doesn't dominate, and strode home a much the best winner in the Swale S. to earn his career-first black type win. A frequent face on the mid-atlantic seaboard, he'd broken his maiden and hit the board in the Sapling S. at Monmouth Park before being shipped to Delaware, where he picked up a second career win against optional claimers. Sixth in the Rocky Run S. last October when contesting over a muddy...

5th-Aqueduct, $80,000, Msw, 1-28, 3yo, 1m, 1:40.42, sy, 8 1/4 lengths. CAPITAL IDEA (c, 3, Classic Empire--Rever de Vous {SP}, by Distorted Humor), a close-up third in his debut over this track and trip Dec. 31, went off the 2-1 second choice to take a step forward while getting Lasix for this soggy return. Settled in a stalking third by Trevor McCarthy as favored J D Factor (The Factor) led through :24.16 and :48.95 opening splits, the bay mounted his challenge three wide approaching the quarter pole, took over in...

Champion 2-year-old male Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) was purchased by the Korea Racing Authority and arrived Dec. 18 to continue his stud career for the 2024 breeding season, as first reported by The Paulick Report and confirmed by Ashford Stud. The 9-year-old stood at the farm in Versailles, Kentucky, where he was shuttled to Chile on multiple occasions. As of 2023, his oldest foals are 4-year-olds, and his progeny have won 113 races with earnings of more than $13.5 million. Angel of Empire is his most successful offspring, who...

Alpine Princess (Classic Empire) did not disappoint her backers as she lived up to favoritism and won Saturday's Untapable S. in New Orleans. The bay broke her maiden at second asking by a head at Saratoga Sept. 3, but was well-beaten in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland Oct. 6. Returning to her winning ways against allowance company after her race was taken off the grass at Churchill Downs Nov. 26, the filly went off at 8-5 here. The Brad Cox trainee was in-tight along the rail before the...

Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), a powerful winner of this spring's GI Arkansas Derby and a rallying third as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby, has returned to training at WinStar Training Center and is expected to rejoin trainer Brad Cox at either Fair Grounds or Oaklawn Park within the next month. The Albaugh Family Stables colorbearer was given a freshening after concluding his six-race sophomore campaign with a dead-heat fourth-place finish in the GI Belmont S. June 10 and a close third-place finish in a roughly run renewal...

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse was coming off his first two Breeders' Cup wins just the year before when he entered Classic Empire in the Juvenile. Second choice on the board, Classic Empire made back-to-back Grade Is look easy following a powerful victory in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Casse indicated looks can be deceiving. "Any hair I had left, he made sure it was gone," said Casse recently with a laugh. "He was a pistol. A lot of people didn't know this, but six days before the...

3rd-Keeneland, $106,700, Alw, 10-6, (NW1X), 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:26.99, ft, 13 1/2 lengths. TWO ITEM SAVER (f, 3, Super Saver--Two Item Limit {MGSW & MGISP, $1,060,585}, by Twining) debuted in 2022 in the same Churchill Downs maiden which yielded GSW Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief) and SP Baby Got Backspin (Kantharos), finishing fourth for Dallas Stewart before being put on the bench until August of this year. Now in the barn of Ignacio Correas, she graduated from the maiden ranks in the Colonial dash last out at second asking and shipped...

A $135,000 Classic Empire half-brother to a pair of recent stakes winners set the pace as the third hip through the ring during the first of two sessions of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale Monday and maintained that position throughout the afternoon. At the end of trade, a total of 91 head had changed hands for gross receipts of $2,212,500. The average was $24,313, down from $27,222 during last year's corresponding session; while the median also dipped, from $14,000 last year to $11,500. The buyback rate was 19.5%--not far off...

WSS Racing's undefeated Brightwork (Outwork) completed her major preparations for next Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades by working a half-mile in :48.60 over a fast track Friday morning. With Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard, Brightwork produced fractions of :24.60, :48.60 and galloped out 5 furlongs in 1:01.40. Last Friday here, Brightwork produced a best-of-20 half-mile in :47. "That was very perfect, and I am grateful that Ricardo made the drive over from Louisville both times to work her," trainer John Ortiz said. "Last week was a good drill for speed, and this...

Crown Imperial (f, 2, Classic Empire--Mi Fiori, by Congrats), beaten just a nose by the streaking Amidst Waves (Midshipman) in Saratoga's Bolton Landing S. Aug. 20, delivered a 13-1 upset in Wednesday's $500,000 Pepsi Untapable S. at Kentucky Downs. She was outsprinted in eighth through scorching early fractions of :20.79 and :44.32, and, after diving toward an inviting opening toward the inside beneath Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the stretch, came alive to get the money by 1 1/4 lengths. Copper Em (Copper Bullet) was second; Buttercream Babe (Twirling Candy) was...

It's been more than four years since Saratoga socialite Marylou Whitney passed away, but thanks to her husband John Hendrickson and trainer Norm Casse, her memory is never far away when it comes to the Saratoga season. Marylou Whitney Stables, now operated by Hendrickson, won with its first starter at the meet when homebred Empire Island (Classic Empire) won the day's sixth race by three-quarters of a length over Lady Moscato (Quality Road). A six-furlong maiden race for 2-year-old fillies that was run at six furlongs, it had a purse...