Classic finish
Hotly contested Arkansas Derby sees 2-year-old champ prevail.
HOT SPRINGS — Threeyear-old horses tend to behave like first-year college students.
A handful figure things out fast, but most struggle to find their way.
Take Classic Empire, for example.
Eclipse Awards voters named the son of Pioneerof the Nile as the champion 2-year-old male, mostly because of two Grade I stakes victories, including one in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
He got the award despite occasional bursts of assorted skulduggery on and off the racetrack, most notably when he wheeled coming out of the gate and threw his rider in the Grade I Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in August.
Then, after back-to-back Grade I victories, he started his 3-year-old season with a lackluster performance in the Feb. 4 Holy Bull Stakes two months ago at Gulfstream Park and flags were raised.
His refusal to go through with a planned workout a few weeks later raised more flags.
They were lowered Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Classic Empire harnessed his energy gracefully this time, racing strongly to the finish when he at last pulled a half-length in front and won the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby before an estimated crowd of 62,500.
Classic Empire, off at 9-5, raced the 9-furlong distance in 1:48.93 and earned 100 Road to the Kentucky Derby points. He ranks second in the Road to the Derby standings with 132 and is a lock to make the expected Derby field of 20 on May 6.
“He just has so much ability,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I knew if we could get him here that he’d be tough. He’s been a challenge, but the last month and a half have been good.”
Jockey Julien Leparoux has ridden six of Classic Empire’s career starts.
“He ran 100 percent today,” Leparoux said. “I was expecting him to be a little tired at the finish, but he’s a nice horse, and he did it today.”
Conquest Mo Money finished second at 17-1, a length in front of third-place Lookin At Lee, a 12-1 shot trained by Steve Asmussen. Sonneteer, second in Oaklawn’s Rebel Stakes last month at 112-1, was another length back in fourth.
Malagacy, an impressive winner of the Rebel and the 2-1 second choice in the Arkansas Derby, faltered late to finish fifth. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said he thought the 12th gate compromised Malagacy’s chance.
“I thought he ran a courageous race from a difficult post,” Pletcher said.
The No. 2 post helped Classic Empire, as did his demeanor on this day.
Misbehaving entering and leaving the gate had been on his list of quirks, but he loaded easily, left quickly, and appeared comfortable at or near the rear of a tight seven-horse lead pack.
Classic Empire made his move while going wide entering the head of the stretch, but got past Malagacy first and finally Conquest Mo Money, the Sunland Park Derby runner-up, that was gut-wrenching for his connections.
“I wasn’t sure he was going to get there,” Casse said. “I don’t think everything went perfectly for him. He had every right to get tired in the last part of it, but he kept running.”
Conquest Mo Money, a son of Uncle Mo, did not race as a 2-year-old but began his career with three consecutive victories at Sunland Park Racetrack in New Mexico. He finished second in the Grade III Sunland Derby on March 26. With 60 total Road to the Derby points, he and his connections are in.
“Oh my God, it’s so exciting,” trainer Miguel Hernandez said. “I want to say 100 yards from the wire, I said, ‘I got it, I got it, I got it.’ It was exciting.”
Casse said he knows how difficult the Road to the Derby can be.
At times, Classic Empire seemed equivalent to a star athlete allowed to remain active despite occasional chicanery. He was tolerated from the start for his talent despite an almost slap-stick start to Saratoga’s Hopeful Stakes that would’ve drawn laughter if not for the peril it presented his jockey that day, Irad Ortiz Jr.
John Oxley’s colt wheeled right and stopped 20 yards out of the gate as the 3-2 favorite in the Hopeful and dropped Ortiz Jr. to the track.
A month earlier in his second career start, Classic Empire angled in from the first post at the start of the Grade III Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs, but Leparoux quickly regained control to direct him to a threequarter-length victory after
trailing by 4 lengths at the head of the stretch.
In an interview last weekend, Casse said he had never been more impressed by any of his 2-year-old winners.
At one point in February, Classic Empire simply refused to work at Palm Meadows Training Center, near Gulfstream Park. He had what at first appeared as a minor abscess to a hoof, but it became so painful that his compensation for it led to back pain. These matters, in turn, led to what Casse said were psychological matters detrimental to the champion’s will.
“When he was continuing his antics, we kind of had thrown up our hands and been like, ‘Well, what are we supposed to do?,’ ’’ said Norman Casse, Mark Casse’s son and assistant trainer.
Mark Casse took Classic Empire back to a farm near Ocala, Fla., where he first trained. The move apparently helped. He worked 5 furlongs in 59.60 on the farm’s Windy Ridge Training Center track on April 3.
“Last-ditch effort, we send him back to Ocala where it all started for him and said if he trains there, good,” Norman Casse said earlier this week. “If not, we’ll take a step back and wait until summertime. So, he earned his right here.” He obviously had.
“It was a relief, and maybe disbelief that, after all the obstacles that came our way, we were able to achieve this,” Mark Casse said. “There were so many people who helped us with this. We needed it because it’s been tense.”