EMPIRE MAKER WINS WOOD
Juddmonte Farms’ Empire Maker (Unbridled out of Toussaud)
confirmed his credentials as this year’s Kentucky Derby (Gr.1)
favorite with a calculated half-length victory in Saturday’s
$750,000 Wood Memorial (Gr.1) in the mud at Aqueduct Park. Empire
Maker, under a hand ride from jockey Jerry Bailey, took the lead
from Funny Cide near the eighth pole and won by a comfortable ½
length. The time for the 1 1/8-mile Wood was 1:48 3/5 on a muddy
track.
Bailey said he could have won with more ease. “That is exactly
what we wanted to get out of this race. I knew as soon as we broke
that he would handle the surface [labeled muddy after several
inches of rain in the past several days]. I didn’t want to get into
any trouble, and being in the outside post, we didn’t. If I had
really gotten into him, and we would have won by more, it would
have defeated the purpose of saving something for the Kentucky
Derby (May 3 at Churchill Downs).”
Starting on the far outside of the field of eight, Empire Maker
settled in third early in the race. New York Hero jumped to the
lead and set fractions of :23 2/5, :47 1/5, and 1:11 while allowed
to run on a lone lead over Funny Cide and Empire Maker, who was
about three lengths behind as they hit the final turn. As they
swung out of the turn, Funny Cide hit the front with Empire Maker
closing easily on the outside. Bailey never moved on the winner
until he started to come in during the final stage.
Empire Maker, who is trained by Bobby Frankel, earned $450,000,
with his second straight Gr.1 victory. Winner of the Florida Derby
(Gr.1) by 9 ¾ lengths on March 15, it was his third triumph in five
career races and pushed his winnings over the $1 million mark.
“He broke better than ever today. He answered a lot of
questions. He showed he’s very tractable,” Frankel said. “Jerry
gave me a few anxious moments, but you could see what he wanted to
do. He didn’t want to bottom him out for this race. He tried to
make him win as easy as possible without taking too much out of
him. You have confidence, but you’re still going into a big race,
you can never be overconfident. You can talk all you want, but
until they do it on the racetrack…I just want to get there, let
[Empire Maker] run his race, and hopefully, we can get the
money.”
Bailey said he’s delighted with the colt’s progress. “I’ve been
excited about this horse since I first got on him last fall. He’s
handled everything thrown at him so far. I got into him when we
were going by the last horse at Gulfstream (in his Florida Derby
victory) and he took off. I didn’t want him to draw off by nine
today and tried not to hit him when we were going by Funny Cide. I
didn’t want to be sorry three weeks for now in the Derby. I just
tapped him here. He put that horse away on his own. I didn’t ask
him for much. He’s learning and progressing the right way. I asked
him for just enough to stay in front. This was an ideal prep.”
Sent off at 1-2, the winner paid $3.10, $2.50 and $2.10.
Next stop, the May 3rd Kentucky Derby. The early favorite for
this year’s classic arrived at Churchill Downs on Sunday afternoon.
As an added bonus for Juddmonte Farms, Empire Maker’s victory in
the Gr.1 Wood Memorial was the 100th Gr.1 victory for Juddmonte
Farms’ owner Prince Khalid Abdullah.
Date:
23 April 2003