Empire Maker

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency WELL-RELATED FILLY DEBUTS IN 'EMPIRE' STATE 1st-BEL, $64K, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:15p.m. Gainesway's LOVE ON THE RUN (Empire Maker) makes her career bow in this spot for Bill Mott. Hammering for $425,000 at KEENOV, the bay is a half-sister to two-time Grade I winner Belle Gallantey (After Market). Bass Stables' Thankful (American Pharoah) makes her second start and first on dirt here for trainer Todd Pletcher. She finished ninth on her May 14 debut on the grass at Gulfstream after brushing the gates and...

Even Richard Wagner would have struggled to make anything of this particular "ring cycle". In four starts, Eight Rings (Empire Maker) has so far abruptly alternated the full works--strings, horns, kettle drums--with a timid clink of the triangle. As such, he certainly can't afford to break the cycle when surfacing for the first time since his Breeders' Cup bust in the Bachelor S. at Oaklawn Saturday. Dropping in grade and distance, in fact, he needs to produce the dominant sophomore performance of a day that also features a new stakes...

Grade I-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Eight Rings (Empire Maker) makes his seasonal bow Saturday in Oaklawn's Bachelor S. An impressive debut winner at Del Mar Aug. 4, the $520,000 KEESEP buy ducked in sharply at the start of the GI Del Mar Futurity S. Sept. 2, bumping his neighbor and losing his rider. The dark bay returned with a decisive score in the GI American Pharoah S. at Santa Anita Sept. 27 and could only manage sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile in Arcadia when last seen Nov. 1....

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-GP, $44K, Msw, (S), 3yo, 1m, 3:03p.m. WinStar Farm and China Horse Club's $600,000 KEESEP purchase FREEDOM FORCE (American Pharoah) makes his career bow against fellow Florida-breds in this spot. The chestnut is a half-brother to MGISW millionaire Iotapa (Afleet Alex) and SW & GSP Saintly Joan (Northern Afleet). The Rodolphe Brisset trainee enters off a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 flat (1/8) at Palm Meadows Feb. 19. Todd Pletcher saddles another intriguing runner in this test in Mathis homebred Roman Empire (Empire Maker). Off...

Mahmoud is interred in the same soil. So, too, are Broomstick and his son Whisk Broom II--both born in the first years of the last century; Tom Fool, Vaguely Noble, Blushing Groom; the great matriarch La Troienne. Stop The Music, the horse who owed his Champagne S. success to the disqualification of Secretariat, lasted to 35 before he had to be euthanized in 2005. And let's not forget The Axe, gray son of gray Mahmoud: the sire of Foggy Note, fourth of nine gray dams behind the farm's modern colossus...

Empire Maker (Unbridled--Toussaud, by El Gran Senor), who gave Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms its lone American Classic winner in the 2003 GI Belmont S. before going on to be a sire of sires and grandsire of two Kentucky Derby winners--including a Triple Crown winner--passed away Saturday, Jan. 18 at Gainesway Farm in Lexington. He was 20 years old and succumbed to a rare disease that compromised his immune system. "The passing of Empire Maker will leave a tremendous void not only in the breeding industry as we know it, but...

Gainesway Farm will be open to visitors this week for inspections of its 2020 roster of stallions. Open House hours will be held from Monday, Jan. 13 through Friday, Jan. 17 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Visit www.gainesway.com for more information.

The powerful ownership group involved with juvenile colt Eight Rings (Empire Maker) celebrated their first win as a team Sunday as the buzzed-about Bob Baffert trainee blitzed Del Mar maiden company to become a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star'. A $520,000 Keeneland September yearling, the dark bay prepped for this with a bullet five-furlong drill from the gate in 1:00 flat here July 25 in company with unraced Garth (Into Mischief--Country Star) (Click for XBTV Video) and was crushed down to 3-5 favoritism despite the presence of several other well-bred and...

Amalfi Sunrise (Constitution) flattered her 'TDN Rising Star' status even further by collecting another facile win in Saturday's GII Sorrento S. at Del Mar. Sent off the well-supported favorite following an ultra-impressive 6 1/4-length score in her Santa Anita debut June 23, the dark bay was part of a three-way tussle up front with 'TDN Rising Star' and last-out GIII Schuylerville S. winner Comical (Into Mischief) and Princess Mo (Uncle Mo), carving out an opening quarter in :22.50. Looking ready to dispense of those rivals at any moment, Amalfi Sunrise...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-SAR, $78,000, (S), Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, post time: 2:12 p.m. ET Jeff Drown's RISKY MISCHIEF (Into Mischief), a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling purchase last August, who had been expected to debut on the Saratoga card which got rained out last Thursday, makes her first trip to the post here for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. She is a daughter of multiple stakes winner Risky Rachel (Limehouse) and her second dam is graded stakes winner Dancin Renee (Distinctive Pro). Her half-brother Yale (Scat Daddy) sold for...