The Empire Classic ($300.000 Purse)
BEL- For Three Year Olds and Upward Foaled in NY
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
October 22, 2016

The tenth running of the Empire Classic took place today at BEL with some rain showers that were enough to dampen the great day of statebred racing and downgrade the main track to good with the turf events going off as yielding.  Mb Stables brought two to the starting gate, and both seemed to look good on paper, although I gave the edge to his once two year old superstar, Grandeur.  That one would run fine, and perhaps needed a better trip to have completed an all Mb-exacta here.  The other entry was Final Tune, a very consistent gelding by Condottieris Flash who has won a couple of ungraded stakes up the road at AQU.  Still, Final Tune had some tries at the graded level, and came up short.  He seemed to be knocking at the door, and while this is not graded, the purse was a big one.  Mb Stables becomes the first trainer to win this race more then once, and has now done so in two of the last three years.  F Pennington made his trip up the road from PRX pay off quite nicely as well, riding his first winner.  Congratulations to them!  The time of the win was 1:49.61 on the good track.   Let’s look at how it happened!

1st- 3- Final Tune (6/1)- Today’s eventual winner from Mb Stables was unhurried out of the gate by jockey F Pennington, and would settle in to the fourth position midway down the stretch while running three and a half lengths from the leaders.  The progress on the leaders was minimal as the race moved into the turn, but he would start to get closer at this point.  Midway through, at about the six furlong mark, Final Tune prepared for his run after sizing up the two leaders, and positioned himself for the three wide run.  Long River was applying some pressure to his outside, so Final Tune could not let up a bit, and at the top of the stretch, he had advanced to second and was beginning to complete the pass for the lead.  That would come without too much trouble, but with Long River not able to keep with him, there would be no further challenges for late in the stretch, and at this point Mb was likely cheering for the exacta.  That would come up short, but he does pick up the Empire Classic win here with Final Tune!  Final Tune is a three year old gelding by Condottieris Flash and out of No Stop Sign (Red Rioja).  He was bred in New York by Mb Stables as a third quarter two year old, and they have been together throughout.  Congratulations to the connections!

2nd- 6- Long River (7/5)- Making his 26th career start, the Canadian Racing gelding got off to a start that put him in the middle of the field.  At first it looked like he might want to stalk the frontrunners, but soon opted to drop back about four lengths from the leaders.  This put him alongside Final Tune. He would be about four wide while running around the turn, but this was somewhat beneficial in that it kept him clear from those that were tiring.  He would be in an all out drive as it started to become clear that his race was for second.  Did well to hold off Grandeur and prevent the Mb exacta.

3rd- 8- Grandeur (7/2)- Our pre-race selection from Mb Stables could see them all in front of him in the early stages of the race.  Moved closer to the front of the turn, and would be able to make more progress then did Broomsticks Wiggy here because he did not have to slam on the brakes to avoid Fast Thomas.  Followed his stablemate through for a moment, then moved a lane to the outside to try and get by Long River.  He would be close, but come up short.

4th- 4- Diplomatic Prince (10/1)- Making his debut for D J C Racing Stables, Diplomatic Price broke well out of the gate and ran alongside the pacesetting Fast Thomas down the backstretch. Ran well around the turn, and as Fast Thomas dropped out of it, he would emerge with the lead, and seemed to still have something left in the tank.  Hung in there for a while, but the last half furlong was a struggle.

5th- 2- Broomsticks Wiggy (5/1)- The Drabfantasy entry was the slowest to break out of the gate, and he would find himself near the back of the field with Grandeur down the backstretch.  He would run well in the turn, and seemed to be advancing until he ran into the fading Fast Thomas and had to check up. Recovered well, but that would spoil his race.

6th- 5- Fast Thomas (24/1)- The longest shot on the board, from John Henry, got the hopes of his supporters up early as he jumped out to the early lead, running a half mile in :48.18.  Led the field into the turn, but by the time they reached the top of the stretch, he had called it a day.

7th- 1- American Horror (8/1)- It was a better start then a finish for the Night Rider Stables entry would have loved to have seen another second.  Down the backstretch, he seemed to be in good shape, riding along the rail just a length or so from the lead.  In the turn, he was sluggish, and it essentially ended his day.

Track: Good
Time: :48   1:12¹  1:37   1:49³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 6 Paid 14.40
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 6 – 8 Paid 38.20

Scratched: Marshal Berthier

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded