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New Rising Star for Classic Empire at the Spa

Lawana and Robert Low's $550,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic purchase Classy Edition (Classic Empire) proved worth the money Sunday as she overcame a rough start to dominate a group of New York-bred fillies and garner the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction. Purchased by agent Jacob West off a swift :10 1/5 breeze at Timonium in May, the bay was 3-5 while bidding to become newly minted Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher's eighth juvenile debut winner of the Saratoga stand and third 'Rising Star'. Pletcher sent out smashing turf winner Annapolis (War Front) on Saturday, and fellow Low colorbearer My Prankster (Practical Joke) to one of the flashiest efforts by a 2-year-old this year Aug. 21.

Bumped from both sides at the start, Classy Edition was undeterred and sat just behind the pacesetters along the fence down the backside. She quickened to come get the three fillies dueling up front heading for home, overtook them with ease out in the clear, and was only asked for her best for a few strides before being wrapped up Irad Ortiz, Jr. en route to a 6 3/4-length romp in 1:05.13. Longshot Laochi (Laoban) spiced up the exacta.

The ninth winner and first Rising Star for champion juvenile and freshman sire Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile), Classy Edition is half to Newly Minted (Central Banker), MSW, $516,738 and New Girl in Town (Boys At Tosconova), MSP, $172,505. She has a yearling half-brother by American Pharoah.

7th-Saratoga, $85,000, (S), Msw, 9-5, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:05.13, gd, 6 3/4 lengths.
CLASSY EDITION, f, 2, Classic Empire
                1st Dam: Newbie, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Changeisgonnacome, by Cherokee Run
                3rd Dam: Top Tip, by Lost Code
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $46,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O-Lawana L. & Robert E. Low; B-Chester & Mary R. Broman (NY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. *$550,000 2yo '21 EASMAY

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First Empire Gives Classic Empire First Stakes Winner In Soaring Free At Woodbine

First Empire, prominent throughout, took charge around the final turn and held off Degree of Risk to score by 1 ¾-lengths in Saturday's $140,250 Soaring Free Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

The Soaring Free, a 6 ½-furlong turf race for 2-year-olds, attracted a field of six and kicked off the first of back-to-back four-stakes programs at the Toronto oval on Queen's Plate weekend.

First Empire, conditioned by Mark Casse, had finished a faltering fifth when debuting here on the Tapeta, but then was a game front-running winner over six furlongs of turf with returning rider Patrick Husbands in the irons.

“When I breezed him in the morning, he's okay, but on the grass, as he's shown in his last two races, he's a different horse,” said Husbands. “I had so much horse swinging for home. I knew it would take a real nice horse to beat him.”

In the Soaring Free, First Empire pressed Indiana invader Heaven Street while racing just outside through an opening quarter in :22.49 and led that one by a length as he got the half in :44.37.

Degree of Risk, invading from Illinois for trainer Eoin Harty, was making his turf debut and impressed, finishing second, despite racing greenly through the lane.

Heaven Street wound up third, 7 ¼-lengths behind the runner-up.

Twenty Four Mamba, who like First Empire is a son of the Casse-trained Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old Classic Empire, was another 3 ½-lengths back in fourth.

Concealed Carry never menaced in finishing fifth and Silent Farewell, a troubled second behind First Empire when debuting here August 1, failed to enter contention as the 9-5 favorite and checked in last.

The final time was 1:15.44.

Sent off as the 5-2 second choice, First Empire returned $7.80 and keyed a $53.70 exacta over 9-1 Degree of Risk. Heaven Street, at 5-1, completed a $97.05 ($1) trifecta and the superfecta with Twenty Four Mamba came back at $312.90 for $1.

First Empire, owned by Dick Bonnycastle's Harlequin Ranches, is out of the Macho Uno mare Silsita and is the first stakes winner for both his dam and his freshman sire. Bred by Saintsbury Farm, First Empire was a $60,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's October sale.

Casse won last year's Soaring Free with Gretzky the Great, who used the race as a stepping-stone to success here in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes and went on to be honored as Canada's Outstanding Male Two-Year-Old.

This year's $400,000 Grade 1 Summer Stakes, a “Win and You're In” for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, will be run at Woodbine on September 19.

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Classic Empire Gets His First Stakes Winner

First Empire, fittingly trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, became the first stakes winner for freshman sire Classic Empire with a win in Saturday's Soaring Free S. at Woodbine. He dueled and tired to fifth in his debut over the all-weather July 4, then dueled free when switched to grass to graduate here Aug. 1. Backed as the second choice in this one, First Empire forced the issue from an outside second, began to shake clear rounding the far turn and gamely kept finding after switching to his left lead in the stretch to post a career high.

Progeny in the pipeline for the winner's dam include: a West Coast colt of 2020 and an Uncle Mo colt of this year. She was bred back to Good Magic.

SOARING FREE S., C$140,250, Woodbine, 8-21, 2yo, 6 1/2fT, 1:15.44, fm.
1–FIRST EMPIRE, 120, c, 2, by Classic Empire
                1st Dam: Silsita (GSW, $213,873), by Macho Uno
                2nd Dam: Naturally Wild, by Wild Again
                3rd Dam: Nat's Lea, by L'Natural
($75,000 RNA Ylg '20 FTKSEL; $60,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT). 1ST
BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Harlequin Ranches; B-Saintsbury Farms
Inc. (ON); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Patrick Husbands. C$90,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $122,207. *First stakes winner for
freshman sire (by Pioneerof the Nile).
2–Degree of Risk, 120, c, 2, Cairo Prince–Wipe Out, by Hard
Spun. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Eoin G. Harty. C$25,000.
3–Heaven Street, 120, c, 2, Street Sense–Heavenly View, by
Congrats. ($275,000 RNA Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Siena Farms, LLC
& Asmussenequine.com; B-Siena Farms LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. C$13,750.
Margins: 1 3/4, 7 1/4, 3HF. Odds: 2.90, 9.30, 5.25.
Also Ran: Twenty Four Mamba, Concealed Carry, Silent Farewell. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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July 29 Insights: OBS Bullet Breezer, Caravaggio Filly Debut in Spa Turf Sprint

6th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 3:55 p.m. ET

A pair of promising-looking juvenile fillies will make their respective debuts while breaking next door to each other in this Thursday turf dash. EMPRESS TIGRESS (Classic Empire) made a big splash at OBS April when breezing a quarter-mile in an eye-popping :20 2/5, one of only two horses at the entire sale to hit that mark, and landed with Augustin Stable after the hammer dropped for $410,000. Trained by Jonathan Thomas, she's out of a half-sister to GSW/MGISP turfer Stays in Vegas (City Zip), while her second dam is a half to Persistently (Smoke Glacken), who upset the mighty Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) in the 2010 GI Personal Ensign S. over the Saratoga main track. Given the slight nod on the morning line one stall to her outside is Her World (Ire) (Caravaggio) who looks to keep things rolling for her breakout freshman sire, already represented by 11 winners from his first crop of 2-year-olds. Trained by Wesley Ward, the $400,000 Keeneland September buy shows a few snappy works over the Oklahoma turf, most recently going a half-mile in :49 flat (4/68) around dogs July 23. The gray is a half to Group 1-placed Consort (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) out of a half to MGSW Surya (Unbridled), who produced GISW Aruna (Mr. Greeley). Further down the page are six-time Grade I winner Miss Oceana (Alydar) and Group 1 winners Kitwood (Nureyev) and Magic of Life (Seattle Slew). TJCIS PPs

—@JBiancaTDN

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