NYRA/Chelsea Durand
By Sarah Mace
The young career of West Point Thoroughbreds and RAP Racing’s Empire Line has certainly gotten off on the right foot. At Aqueduct on Monday, the dark bay colt by Morning Line drove his record to a perfect two-for-two with a game nose victory in the 39th running of the $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for 3-year-old New York-bred males.
Originally scheduled for December 30, but cancelled when the latter part of the card was scrapped due to poor track conditions, the one-turn, one-mile Damon Runyon came back on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday card with a field of seven.
Strongly supported to the tune of 2-1 favoritism, Empire Line had turned heads on December 1 when he won his debut for trainer George Weaver in a six-furlong New York-bred maiden special weight affair. That day, from the outside post of nine, the dark bay scored a stalk-and-pounce victory with a well-timed final surge.
Once the gates opened for the Runyon, a pair of confirmed frontrunners took control: Morning Breez led through the first quarter-mile in 23.25 and half in 47.24, and Battle Station chased a three lengths back in second. Empire Line raced well off the rail another length back in third.
As the field rounded the far turn, the top three closed ranks and Empire Line moved into second. Meanwhile Evaluator, winner of the Sleepy Hollow Stakes last out on October 21 with big late run, rallied from the back of the pack into fourth and, at the head of the stretch, as six furlongs ticked by in 1:12.63, angled out widest of all with a big chance.
Empire Line struck the front with a sixteenth of a mile to go, but needed to keep his mind intently on business as Evaluator loomed with menace on the grandstand side.
Empire Line then dug in bravely and kept his nose in front to win the photo in a final time of 1:38.75 over the fast track. Morning Breez finished 4 3/4 lengths back in third, while Battle Station, in the hunt throughout, completed the superfecta. Following next in order were Smooth Move, Seven Lillies and Jaye Jaye.
“I wanted to be on the outside on the trip because he feels a little more comfortable,” explained Eric Cancel. “He gives me a little more, so everything worked out. When [Evaluator] came right next to me, I thought I was going to get beat. But [Empire Line] felt it and just kept on trying and never gave up and the other horse didn’t get there in time. He ran a huge race.”
Cancel had also done some hands-on homework after inheriting the mount from John Velazquez, who was aboard for the debut victory. “I had been walking the horse and we were able to figure some things out to help him improve his racing. He ran huge. I give him credit and I give credit to George Weaver’s team for doing a great job with the horse. Today, he kept on going for me.”
Weaver’s assistant Blair Golen also commented on the lessons Empire Line’s connections had learned from his first outing.
“From his last race I noticed that when Johnny [Velazquez] was going and he got, not side by side but parallel, he kind of laid back a little bit and then Johnny had to get after him to get him past it. The same thing with works in the morning, he will kind of hang out with his company and you have to get into him to put a head out in front. But, I figured Eric would be determined enough to keep his head out there and I am sure now that we will come out of this race with more experience and hopefully keep getting better.”
Golen also felt that the Runyon unfolded according to script. “I thought that we would get some speed and Eric [Cancel] put him perfectly right from the break and asked him to move right when he needed to move, and he had enough horse to get it done. And hang on. Because Manny [Franco on Evaluator] had a lot of horse too.
“I expected [Morning Breez] and [Battle Station] to go, just from their previous races. And I expected us to sit off of it. And [I] thought [Evaluator] was going to be a tough competitor. It just worked out. We got lucky and he grinded it out. And so did Eric.”
Concluded Golen, “We always liked the horse. From Saratoga to now he always slowly progressed and got better, fitter, stronger. He always worked with a very nice horse of ours Forty Winds, a nice turf horse. And when he breezed last time I was very impressed. So, I was pretty confident going into this spot.”
Bred Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding and foaled at Majestic View Farm International in Gardiner, Empire Line changed hands twice at public auction. After James Layden picked him up for $50,0000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale, he turned the horse into a successful pinhook, when West Point Thoroughbreds went to $180,000 to acquire him at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile sale last spring.
Empire Line, who has earned $93,000 from his two victories, is out of Homecoming Dance, an unraced daughter of Vindication who is a half-sister to graded stakes performer Milam and issues from the family of Trumpet’s Blare and Albert the Great. She has produced three winners from three foals to start and was bred to Paynter in 2017.
