IMPERIAL COUNCIL PLEASES ON STAKES DEBUT
EMPIRE MAKER's Imperial Council put in an impressive effort for his inaugural stakes start on Saturday. He rallied from near the back of the pack to finish second in the Gotham. This colt has finished first or second in all of his four starts.
Article taken from the Bloodhorse website by Steve Haskin
….Imperial Council (EMPIRE MAKER), who was still seven lengths back at the three-sixteenths pole and looked like he had no shot to hit the board, put in a strong rally to get up for second, a neck in front of Mr. Fantasy.
Considering it was his first two-turn race and he was taken completely out of his game plan, this was an excellent performance and he should only improve off it. An attractive, racy-looking colt, he also looked terrific in the paddock and is still one to watch.
“He came out the race fine and is on his way back to Florida,” trainer Shug McGaughey said Sunday. “We’ll freshen him up a little, and if everything is right, we’ll send him back up there and run him in the Wood Memorial (Grade 1). I think he’ll learn a lot from this race. He finished strong and when he gets on that bigger track at Aqueduct I think it’ll suit him a lot better than the inner track. I was surprised to see him that far back. There was no pace, and when he finally got going the race was already over. I thought he’d be right in behind the speed. Rajiv (Maragh) said he dropped his hands on him and the horse relaxed really well, but fell back farther than he thought he would. I feel we accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish except for winning and this wasn’t a win-or-else race.”
Date:
09 March 2009