Empire Strikes Back with Morello

If the early trials have produced a Derby horse to “rise without trace,” then that might well turn out to be Morello (Classic Empire). As winner of two sprints round Aqueduct this winter, he obviously still has a long way to go–in every sense. But there's no mistaking his raw talent, nor the fact that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg even in that very stylish exhibition in the Jimmy Winkfield S.

Certainly Morello looks eligible to restore some deserved attention to his sire. Though they're all gasping in the wake of the phenomenal Gun Runner, to me Classic Empire has been rather neglected among the four Ashford sires who featured among the next six in the freshman's table last year. He's standing this year at $17,500–half his opening fee–and his fourth book came in at less than half of that assembled by Practical Joke, who has duly produced exactly the kind of precocious stock anticipated by all that sales buzz.

Yet Classic Empire laid very solid foundations with his first crop of juveniles, lacking only the kind of headline horse that so often covers a multitude of sins. Collectively they ranked fourth by prizemoney from 60 runners, fewer than each of his studmates: Practical Joke fielded 68, Cupid 75 and Caravaggio, having started his career in Europe, as many as 81. Five of Classic Empire's 21 juvenile winners earned black type, including Classy Edition, who followed up her debut win at Saratoga with a couple of state-bred stakes.

She had made $550,000 as a Timonium 2-year-old, in the same session where Morello–who had similarly clocked :10 1/5–realized $250,000 from BL Racing out of the Sequel Bloodstock draft. (He races in the silks of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig and Victoria Taylor.) That concluded his second pinhook cycle, having made $200,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton the previous year (sold to Autrey Bloodstock by Paramount Sales, in the same consignment as GII San Vicente S. winner Forbidden Kingdom {American Pharoah}); and $140,000 when sold to American Equistock through Betz Thoroughbreds as a Keeneland November weanling.

Morello was bred in partnership by Robert Tillyer, who has meanwhile returned to Dixiana as farm manager after 18 years with Betz Thoroughbreds, and reproductive veterinarian Dr. Chet Blackey. They had bought his dam Stop The Wedding (Congrats), a winner just once in 25 starts at claiming level, after breeding a good one from her half-sister Saint Bernadette (Saint Ballado).

Saint Bernadette had cost them just $20,000 from Adena Springs as a 10-year-old at the 2009 Keeneland November Sale and the following spring they sent her to the rookie Pioneerof The Nile. The result was eventual GI Preakness S. third Social Inclusion, who prompted Tillyer and Blackey to move privately for his dam's half-sister after he broke the Gulfstream track record in thrashing Honor Code (A.P. Indy) in an allowance on his second start.

Saint Bernadette became something of a goldmine thereafter. A brother to Social Inclusion made $475,000 as a yearling; a Curlin colt brought $575,000; and her last foal, a filly by American Pharoah, realized $425,000.

“We just felt she was one of those mares that deserved a chance,” recalls Tillyer. “She'd been graded stakes-placed, she was never off the board in eight starts, one of her early foals had made good money, and she was very attractive herself. So we got lucky, managing to buy her for that money and then breeding her to Pioneerof The Nile when he was just getting started. And then we got lucky again breeding her to Curlin, who was still only $35,000, and would then make a great comeback before we sold that colt.

“Sadly we lost Saint Bernadette a couple of years ago, and overall she was just a bit unlucky with some of her offspring on the track. And it had looked like becoming a similar thing with Stop The Wedding. We were getting to the point where she was on the bubble, commercially, and opted to sell Morello as a weanling. He was always a lovely colt, really classy, and it was nice to see everybody making some money. Obviously Pat Costello [of Paramount] did a great job raising him, and I think he could have probably got a little more for him but for hitting the middle of a pandemic.”

As a son of Pioneerof The Nile, Classic Empire had been chosen for Stop The Wedding to try and hit the same kind of chord with the family as Social Inclusion.

“It was the usual thing of deciding what was going to be commercial, and what we could afford,” Tillyer says. “With where the mare was at the time, we couldn't justify Pioneerof The Nile [standing at $110,000 prior to his premature loss the following year], so we went with his son as the next best thing. Classic Empire was obviously a really talented horse, so it all made sense.”

If Tillyer's record is anything to go by–besides being ahead of the curve with Pioneerof The Nile and Curlin, as just noted, he co-bred GII Fountain Of Youth winner Ete Indien (Summer Front) from a $23,000 mare–then his approval augurs well for Classic Empire. But even the shrewdest horsemen need luck on their side and, having resolved to reorganise his own breeding interests on leaving Betz Thoroughbreds, he is now grateful that the market turned down the chance to buy Stop The Wedding at the 2020 Keeneland January sale. Instead, his good friend Nicky Drion stepped in to take a third after she failed to meet her reserve at $11,000, and she now boards at Foxtale Farm.

“I don't know what we'd have taken, to be honest, but obviously a lot more than she was making!” recalls Tillyer. “We knew she was a lovely mare. She's nice-sized, pretty correct in front, and every foal she's thrown has been beautiful. She's just been a bit unfortunate with her offspring on the track.”

Voric Stables also got lucky in picking up the Cairo Prince filly Stop The Wedding was carrying that day, deep in the September sale for just $16,000. They, too, will doubtless be following Morello's progress with enthusiasm.

“Yeah, it looks like he could be a good horse,” Tillyer says of Morello. “To me, knowing the family, he looks like a miler. But we'll see. Of course you'd love it if he can go a mile and a quarter. Time will tell and we're looking forward to seeing him in the [GIII] Gotham S. Mar. 5.”

With 50 starting points to the winner there, Morello could make it hard to turn down a tilt at the Derby. His first two dams are both by sons of venerable Classic influences in Congrats (A.P. Indy) and Runaway Groom (Blushing Groom {Fr}), and his fourth dam is by the sturdy turf/stamina influence Assagai. And of course Classic Empire, though a champion juvenile (and as precocious as they come from that sire-line), was consolidating as you would expect from his beautifully balanced pedigree when unfortunately derailing after a head defeat in the GI Preakness S.

Besides extending a resonant Classic sire-line, his maternal family is seeded through its first four generations by Cat Thief, Miswaki, Hoist The Flag and Princequillo. His third dam is a half-sister to champion sophomore filly Revidere (Reviewer) and the fifth dam, Alanesian (Polynesian), also features along the bottom line of Harlan's Holiday, Boldnesian and Ride The Rails. The lasting imprint shared by that trio, through Into Mischief, Bold Reasoning/Seattle Slew and Candy Ride (Arg), qualify Alanesian as a real linchpin of the modern breed.

Overall I'm confident that Classic Empire, granted adequate support, will prove a most wholesome and progressive influence. We actually gave him a place on the Value Podium for this intake, in our annual winter survey of Kentucky stallions, and if that seems a dubious distinction then don't forget he has already caught up with his studmate Practical Joke once. Having dropped down the divisional standings when discarding his rider in the GI Hopeful S., where all the plaudits went to winner Practical Joke, he came through in the Fall to reduce his precocious rival to a distant third at the Breeders' Cup.

But credit for Morello is obviously shared by his breeders. For Tillyer to be involved on the early Derby trail for the second time in three years is quite a remarkable achievement, at the level he operates in what is only a sideline to his day job.

Ete Indien was co-bred with another good friend, Eric Buckley, and sold as a Keeneland September yearling for $80,000. His dam East India (Mizzen Mast) is still only 10. She is in foal to War Of Will and, so long as she doesn't deliver too late, eyeing a date with Gun Runner next. Her 3-year-old daughter by Runhappy, sold as a weanling for $100,000, progressed to win a Churchill maiden for Rusty Arnold in November and is evidently well regarded.

Tillyer stresses that it was Buckley who was strongly interested by East India's deeper family, her dam being a half-sister to the important producers Words Of War and Ascutney (both by Lord At War {Arg}). And he says there's no big secret to his own eye for a mare: you obviously want something that will throw a good physical, and you don't want two blank dams when you come to sell. Bottom line is that Tillyer relishes ventures like this, with his buddies, as a fun ancillary to working for the ambitious farm where he first started out in Kentucky (under a previous ownership) a couple of decades ago and where he has already presided over the sale of its first ever seven-figure yearling, at Keeneland last September.

“It's funny how things work out, and to come full circle this way is fun,” he says of his return to Dixiana. “Working for Bill and Donna Shively is a bit of a dream come true, they've done an amazing job putting together three farms and some very nice mares, and they're just great people to work for. I've been very lucky, all round, and I'm very thankful to the people who have supported me. Chet and I have been friends for 20 years now, he's always been one of my biggest supporters, always willing to go in on a partnership, whether it's a pinhook or a broodmare. When these things go right, it's a lot of fun. And this mare deserves a good runner.”

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Morello Romps In Jimmy Winkfield; Gotham Could Be Next Stop

Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Victoria Taylor's Morello swooped to an emphatic score in Sunday's rescheduled $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield, a seven-furlong sprint for sophomores at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

The Jimmy Winkfield was initially slated for last Sunday's card which was cancelled due to the impact of a powerful winter storm in the New York City metropolitan area.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and piloted by Jose Lezcano, Morello broke sharp from the outermost post 5, settling in third position as Hagler punched his way to the front through an opening quarter-mile in 22.60 seconds over the good main track.

Hagler led the field to the turn with Life Is Great stalking in second and Beast Or Famine advancing along the rail. Morello made an early wide move prompting Life Is Great to pop outside of Hagler mid-way through the turn to take command after a half-mile in 45.55.

Morello continued to make up ground outside of Life Is Great and surged clear down the lane en route to a five-length win in a final time of 1:23.30. Life Is Great completed the exacta by 4 1/2-lengths over Beast Or Famine with Dance Code and Hagler rounding out the order of finish.

A $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale purchase, the Classic Empire chestnut entered from an impressive 4 1/4-length debut score over next-out winner Inevtabl Conection in a six-furlong maiden special weight on November 27 at the Big A.

“He broke very good today. Last time, he broke a little slow but today it was good, Lezcano said. “He was in the bridle the whole way and was really going like a good horse. I didn't have to touch him with the whip or anything. I just let him go. He had the same kick as last time.”

Dave Lyon, founder and managing partner of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, said he was impressed with the effort by the colt he named after Tom Morello, guitarist for the rock band Rage Against the Machine.

“This was the plan all along. Sprint him, then take him to seven,” Lyon said. “The allowance race we were looking at didn't go, but we thought this would be the right race to move forward. It looked like by the way he galloped out he could go longer. He handled this field pretty well and we're excited for the future.”

Lyon said he will speak to Asmussen and his Belmont-based assistant Toby Sheets about a potential start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham, a one-turn mile for sophomores on March 5 at the Big A offering 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

“I'm going to let Steve and Toby make that decision, but I think it's a realistic spot. I don't think he needs too much time,” Lyon said. “That race is on March 5, so we'll talk to the guys who lead the charge in the training barn and make a decision on that. We're excited, we think we have a good quality horse.”

Bred in Kentucky by Robert B. Tillyer and Dr. Chet Blackey, Morello banked $55,000 in victory while remaining perfect through two starts. Sent to post as the 7-5 mutuel favorite, Morello returned $4.80 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Sharp High on Hello Hot Rod

George Sharp had been repeatedly shut out in his attempts to add to his 14-horse racing stable in the claiming ranks, so he was bidding not to lose when he purchased recent stakes winner Hello Hot Rod (Mosler) (hip 672) for $335,000 during Tuesday's session of the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale.

“My agent Charlie Allen, who was at Fasig-Tipton, picked him out,” Sharp said Tuesday evening from his Scottsdale, Arizona, home. “He picked out a few horses and I watched Hot Rod's races and the horse has a lot of guts. He seems to be a little immature still, but I like horses who look like they can improve. And this is definitely one of them.”

Hello Hot Rod won back-to-back starts at Laurel late last year and was coming off a gritty victory in the Jimmy Winkfield S. at Aqueduct just days before the Fasig-Tipton auction.

“I have high hopes for him,” Sharp said of the 3-year-old colt. “It might be a little too late to get to the Derby, but hopefully the Breeders' Cup where he will have a choice of races that we can get him into.”

Hello Hot Rod is expected to head west and arrive at the Turf Paradise base of trainer Shawn Davis this weekend.

“We will evaluate him over a week or two and work him and check his maturity level,” Sharp said of plans for his latest acquisition. “The Turf Paradise Derby, which is a 3-year-old $50,000 stakes, is on Mar. 12. If we feel he needs an easy spot to braven up, we might put him in there. But it is possible, if we feel he is strong enough, that we might go to a different Derby prep, or pre-Derby prep. And then see how he does. Or we can just go to the Turf Paradise Derby and then decide if we are going to do a Derby prep.”

Davis, a three-time world champion saddle bronc rider and a member of the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame, trains 2018 GIII Aristides S. winner Chief Cicatriz (Munnings).

“We are here [at Turf Paradise] for now, until April or May, and then we are going to decide if we are going to either Kentucky or California or Texas,” Sharp said of plans for the Davis stable. “It's more likely that the barn is going east than west. And if we do it make it to Churchill [for the Derby] by some fluke of a chance, then we will probably just head that way a little earlier.”

Sharp is an investor and in mergers and acquisitions, as well as conducting investigations into stock market fraud. His first involvement in racing came in the Standardbred industry in the late 1990s.

“I was living in Los Angeles at the time and I was racing at Los Alamitos and then there was no more racing at Los Alamitos,” Sharp said. “So I raced around the country for a little while, but it consumed my life a little too much. The Standardbreds race every week and I always had a race somewhere in the country. I was traveling too much and neglecting the rest of my life. So I took a little siesta from the business and then I went into Thoroughbreds in 2015.”

Sharp currently has 13 horses based at Turf Paradise, plus one runner in California. He also has two broodmares in California.

“I'm in the business of racing,” he said. “I raise them to race them.”

Sharp said he is passionate about his horses and isn't afraid to get a little emotional after a special win. He scored his first victory at Del Mar with League of Shadows (Gotham City) in a 2019 allowance contest.

He said of that experience, “League of Shadows is a horse who has had a lot of health issues. I spent $60,000 to save his life once, but I love my animals. It's what I do. But if you watch the TVG replay, they interviewed me afterwards and I was very emotional in the winner's circle. You save a horse's life and then he goes and wins an allowance race, it's very emotional. I don't think I would be emotional if I won the Kentucky Derby, but that horse winning that race was a big deal to me.”

Sharp's stable includes a 2-year-old half-sister to League of Shadows who he hopes to see go postward later this year.

“I wouldn't mind getting a couple of older horses for some of the minor stakes around,” Sharp said of plans for his stable. “But they have proven to be very difficult to buy or even claim. I've been out-shook on so many claims at Santa Anita, I've been on a cold streak. I missed out on another 3-year-old that I really coveted. So today, I was just determined I was not going to lose.”

Sharp said Hello Hot Rod's $335,000 price tag was “by far” the most expensive horse he had ever purchased. But the colt wasn't Sharp's only purchase Tuesday. He also purchased a 2-year-old filly privately, spending $250,000 for a daughter of Daredevil out of stakes winner Jaws N' Paws (Onebadshark).

“The second most expensive horse I've bought was the filly I bought this morning,” Sharp said. “She is coming to Turf Paradise. They tell me she is the absolute real deal. She's already breezing, so we'll see how she progresses and then make a decision on her. It's going to be a fun year.”

And Sharp is more than ready to welcome Hello Hot Rod to Arizona.

“We are already planning some Hello Hot Rod giveaways, the obligatory hats, and he'll probably have a Twitter account by the end of the week,” Sharp said.

He concluded, “I like the business. I have always liked the business. It's not exactly a good investment, but it's more fun than I could ever possibly have imagined.”

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Russell Calls Decision To Enter Hello Hot Rod In FT Winter Mixed Sale ‘A Good Business Move’

As a trainer, Brittany Russell knows the best time to take a chance is when a horse is doing well. She shipped Hello Hot Rod from her Laurel Park base to New York last weekend, where the Maryland-bred half-brother of multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful extended his win streak to three races in Aqueduct's Jimmy Winkfield Stakes.

As an owner, Russell hopes to experience similar success when Hello Hot Rod goes through the ring Feb. 9 on the second of Fasig-Tipton's two-day winter mixed sale in Lexington, Ky. The sale begins both days at 10 a.m. ET.

Russell co-owns Hello Hot Rod, a 3-year-old Mosler colt out of the Tiznow mare Hello Now, with Dark Horse Racing. Consigned by ELiTE Sales, he is cataloged as Hip No. 672.

Hello Hot Rod fetched $10,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's 2019 Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. He has won three of four starts and $113,941 in purse earnings.

“This is a business and it just seemed like sort of a good business move after winning the stake up there. I have some friends between Fasig and ELiTE sales and I thought it was a good move,” Russell said Thursday. “Naturally, I'd love to have him in the barn and keep him and race him, and maybe that can still happen, but we're going to put him through and just see what happens.”

Hello Hot Rod debuted running second by a neck to Doubleoseven in a six-furlong waiver maiden claimer last Oct. 30. He returned to capture a similar spot going seven furlongs Nov. 13 by 4 ½ lengths, then stepped up to win a one-mile optional claiming allowance triumph by 2 ¼ lengths Dec. 13 in his juvenile finale. All three races came at Laurel.

“He's the right kind. This is the right kind of horse at this time of year,” Russell said. “He's won at a mile. He already has that, and he's a stakes winner. He's done nothing wrong. That's what it comes down to. He's a racehorse.”

Hello Hot Rod was a determined front-running head winner of the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield, the first time he didn't go off as the favorite. He returned to Laurel later that evening, ahead of the winter storm that gripped the New York and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.

“He's awesome. We got lucky with the snow. It started later up in New York so we were able to get him home right away,” Russell said. “He's wonderful. You wouldn't even know he ran. He trained this morning and he's in good form.”

Russell has Wonder Stables, Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables' Little Huntress in the seven-furlong Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 7 at Aqueduct. A 14-length maiden special weight winner Dec. 27 at Laurel, the Frosted filly is also nominated to Laurel's $100,000 Wide Country going seven furlongs Feb. 13.

Little Huntress drew Post 4 in the Ruthless against just four other rivals.

“I entered Little Huntress in the Ruthless this morning because it [is] a short field. We're going to take a look at it and, obviously, we're going to heavily consider running Sunday there,” Russell said. “If we opt to skip, she'll run here in the stakes next week.”

Meanwhile, Russell will send out Cash is King, D.J. Stable and LC Racing's Mine Not Mine in Friday's eighth race, a one-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 4-year-olds and up where the Golden Lad colt drew Post 3 in a field of seven and is 6-1 on the morning line.

Mine Not Mine ran third in a similar spot going 1 1/16 miles Jan. 1, his first start in 216 days after finishing 10th of 11 as the favorite in an open one-mile allowance last May. The winner of that race, Toy, also beat Mine Not Mine in his New Year's Day comeback.

“We were tickled with his last race. To be honest, he was far from being tight to go two turns … meaning he was at least two works short,” Russell said. “He could have used a little bit more, but he was doing well and he was working well so we thought, let's just give him a race and that should really put him right for this next race.”

Mine Not Mine, also by Golden Lad, made his first two starts for trainer Claudio Gonzalez. In his first two starts after being sold for $210,000 in December 2019 and moved to Russell, Mine Not Mine ran second and third, respectively, to the Gonzalez-trained Lebda in the 2020 Miracle Wood and Private Terms at Laurel.

“He's a horse that we've had high expectations for from Day 1 and he's had some hiccups along the way. You're just kind of hoping that every time you run him, maybe this is his chance to shine,” Russell said. “He seems like he's great right now. He's on good foot in the morning so I certainly expect to see a good effort from him.”

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