Classic Empire shedding 'bad boy' image
ELMONT, N.Y. – “The bad boy is here!” the Twitter account of the Belmont Stakes captioned a photo of Classic Empire descending a horse van Tuesday that had just arrived at Belmont Park.
Reputations die hard, and Classic Empire’s exploits will cling to him indefinitely, but the fact of the matter is the bad boy appears to have transformed into a polite, dutiful youngster over the last couple months.
Classic Empire’s bad-boy behavior first surfaced a little more than a year ago at Churchill Downs, manifested as antics during morning training (his favorite trick was to put on the brakes without warning). They rose to the surface for all to see in the Hopeful Stakes last summer when Classic Empire did a U-turn a few strides out of the gate and sent his rider sprawling on the Saratoga dirt.
All was well with the colt until late this winter, when on two occasions he declined to break off for a workout. But those incidents came after Classic Empire had exited a disappointing third-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes with a painful abscessed hoof. To be sure, Classic Empire is a horse that will express his opinion about a situation, but trainer Mark Casse is convinced that the stunts he pulled this year, at least, were merely the mind responding to the body.
“I think it really had to do with his foot, with that just getting in his head,” Casse said Tuesday morning at Belmont a couple hours before Classic Empire arrived from Kentucky.
Running out of time and options, Casse sent Classic Empire from the Palm Meadows training center to Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla., where Classic Empire had done his earliest training, mainly with Martin Rivera on his back. Rivera started exercising Classic Empire again, and within a few days, Classic Empire had ceased his shenanigans.
“I think he just needed new surroundings, and, you know him and Martin, they have an understanding. I think that helps, too,” said Casse. “He’s an extremely smart horse and I think he knows what he can get away with and what he can’t get away with.”
From Florida to Arkansas to Kentucky to Maryland, Rivera rode Classic Empire during every one of his training sessions from that first day back on the farm until just after the Preakness Stakes, in which Classic Empire ran his best race of the year and finished a tough-luck second. Rivera needed to go back home to Ocala for a few days after the Preakness, and Classic Empire went through his paces back at Churchill Downs under a different rider. No problem.
“He’s done wonderful, really, but I think when you don’t know for sure why something happened, you can’t ever be 100-percent confident. You just never know for sure with him,” Casse said.
The bad boy has gone into hibernation leading into the Belmont Stakes. His connections hope he stays asleep.