Trainer: Less traffic will boost Classic Empire
Classic Empire was there at the end of the Kentucky Derby, the 4- 1 morning- line favorite turning toward the stretch with enough mud in front of him to win it.
Then, as has been the case during the colt’s 3- year- old season, something got in the way. Another horse veered into him — he’d been jostled for most of the race — and his stride slowed. He had nothing left. His fourth- place finish still might have been the most impressive run of the day, given all he’d gone through.
Now Classic Empire has come to Pimlico Race Course in search of a clean, fair shot at beating Always Dreaming and ending his drive toward the Triple Crown on Saturday. That is what happens in the Preakness Stakes: After a champion emerges from Kentucky— often because it managed to not be unlucky — the clutter falls away, the course shortens slightly and the role of fate fades, at least a bit.
“We really think a lot of Always Dreaming, because he’s a super- talented horse,” said Norman Casse, who trains Classic Empire with his father, Mark. “We really respect his connections, and we always have. But we’re bringing a horse that has a legit chance to beat him, and I think what we’re hoping for everybody, for all fans and everybody included, that they both get fair trips, they both are eyeing each other at the quarter pole and they can sort it out down the lane.”
NBC horse racing analyst RandyMoss does not buy the long- held narrative that the second leg of the Triple Crown produces a more honest result, calling it “factually incorrect and tremendously overblown.” But he does think Classic Empire’s troubled trip in the Derby prevented him from running as well as he could have.
“The hit he took coming out of the gate, it was like an NFL line of scrimmage,” Moss said.
Classic Empire had drawn the No. 14 post, putting him in the last stall of the primary gate. The six- horse auxiliary gate is a few feet away and angled eversoslightly toward the middle of the course. That means Classic Empire and McCraken in No. 15 were trying to get ahead of the field and away from the mud that would be kicked up by it and were both running for the same lane.
Classic Empire jockey Julien Leparoux initially thought the force of the collision might have unseated another rider. It didn’t, but it ended Classic Empire’s chances. The colt was jostled for much of the 11⁄ 4- mile trip.
“That was really the worst thing about that early trouble,” Moss said. “The fact that Leparoux had to break from the colt’s preferred style and then had to take him wide meant that he traveled about 75 feet further than Always Dreaming. That’s a difference of between 6 and 7 lengths.”
Classic Empire finished 83⁄ lengths 4 behind Always Dreaming, whose trainer, Todd Pletcher, said he thought Classic Empire and several other worthy horses were compromised by the start.
Casse thinks his colt, who arrived Monday at Pimlico and took his first gallop around the track Tuesday, is heading toward the best race of his career. Casse knew the Derby would have to break perfectly for Classic Empire to run his best race. It didn’t. He does not anticipate the same problem in the Preakness, which has 10 entries heading into Wednesday’s post- position draw.
“Always Dreaming will not be that far away from us,” he said. “There won’t be an easy lead. ... We’re going to be sitting right off of him regardless, or he’ll be right off of us, and I can imagine it’s going to be a showdown early.”