2yo Feature Pedigree Look: Miss Empire

Note: Once a week, until the end of the year I will be featuring a Pedigree Look on a 2yo. These will be filed until a different label then normal Pedigree Look posts. 


Name: Miss Empire
Birthdate: April 22, 2010
Color: Bay
Sex: Filly
State/Country Born: KY
Sire: Empire Maker
Dam: Miss Excitement
Broodmare Sire: Rajab

Profile: After finishing fourth in her first start at Hollywood Park, Miss Empire was entered in the Listed Cinderella Stakes. Horses such as Next Move (winner), Willa B Awesome (3rd), Golden Ballet (winner) and Champagne d' Oro (3rd) have taken part in this race. Sitting just off the pace in fourth, Miss Empire bid her time and passed the eventual runner up Awesome Annie (Awesome Gambler) with 1/2 furlong to go to win by 4 3/4 lengths (track announcer Vic Stauffer says five).



Sire


Miss Empire is by Empire Maker (Unbridled) who won the Belmont to deny Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) the Triple Crown in 2003. He had perviously defeated the gutsy gelding in the Wood Memorial, before the chestnut turned the tables on him in the Derby where he was the beaten morning line favorite. Also as 3yo, he won the Florida Derby before ending his career with a second in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga.

As a sire, Empire Maker has 2009 and 2012 Derby runners up Pioneerof the Nile and Bodemeister. Both of them are owned by Ahmed Zayat, trained by Bob Baffert and where caught in the last furlong or so by a longshot (Pioneer by Mine That Bird (Birdstone) and Bode by I'll Have Another (Flower Alley)). Bode would also finish second in the 2012 Preakness where he was once again caught by I'll Have Another. He also has G1 winner Country Star, Acoma, Icon Project, Mushka, and 2011 3yo Champion Filly Royal Delta. Also he is the sire of G2 winner and G1 placed Battle Plan among many others.

Last year his owners Juddmonte sold him to Japanese connections and he is now standing at Shizunai Stallion Station on the island of Hokkaido. Currently, he is standing with fellow former US stallions Came Home, Boston Harbor, Charismatic among others.

Dam


Miss Empire's dam Miss Excitement (Rajab) won 3 times in her career without making an apperience in a stakes race. Other foals that she has thrown include G1 winner Bordonaro (Memo (CHI).

Prediction: The next logical spot for Miss Empire is the Landaluce in a few weeks before Southern Cal racing moves to Del Mar towards the end of July. More likely though, she is heading to the Sorrento in August.

Edit: 3rd in the Landaluce, entered into the 8/5 Best Pal against the boys.

2yo Feature Pedigree Look

Starting next week and going to the Breeders' Cup, I will be featuring a new 2yo each week. The horses that I will be featuring will be impressive maiden winners, stakes winners or horses who could win their maiden and/or stakes in their next start. The ultimate goal of this is to look at the pedigrees of these horses and see weather or not they will be horses to watch in next year's Classics. Not only here in the US, but in Europe and in the future Australia and Japan as well.

This is an offshoot of the Pedigree Look and will be posted under the label of 2yo Feature Pedigree Look so not cause any confunsion for Pedigree Looks. I'm hoping to have it up on the menu ASAP (I think I'm doing something wrong that I need to look at more indepth later this weekend).

As for who will be the first 2yo featured? Well you'll have to wait and see!