When Drake’s Passage lost last year’s Empire Classic as the favorite, he was running back in 23 days off a fairly strong race, albeit a loss. When Drake’s Passage runs in Sunday’s 49th renewal of the $250,000 Empire Classic at Aqueduct, he will do so off a near three-month layoff and coming off the worst race of his career. That he has run well fresh and may have had a big excuse in his last race could lead handicappers to give Drake’s Passage another try in the Empire Classic, which drew a field of nine going 1 1/8 miles. The Empire Classic is the last of 10 races– including eight stakes totaling $1.6 million in purses – on a card devoted entirely to New York-breds. First post is 12:40 p.m. Sent off the 2-5 favorite in a second-level allowance race on Aug. 3 at Saratoga, Drake’s Passage finished last. “He lost two shoes coming out of the gate. He came out very sore,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “We gave him plenty of time. His last two works were very good.” When Drake’s Passage is good, he’s very good. At 3, he put together a three-race win streak capped by a 7 3/4-length victory in the Albany Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds. He ran a 99 Beyer Speed Figure in three straight starts, including a four-length victory in the Commentator Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga in June. Clement tried him in the Grade 2 Brooklyn in July at Saratoga, where Drake’s Passage joined a lengthy list of horses to get drubbed by Next, a superior dirt marathoner who is headed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Manny Franco will ride Drake’s Passage from the rail on Sunday. Bank Frenzy won the Evan Shipman Stakes in August at Saratoga, despite getting pinched back at the start of the one-mile race. In his next start, an allowance on Sept. 15 at Aqueduct, Bank Frenzy finished second to the repeating winner Nelson Avenue, who got loose on the lead that day. “He didn’t break that good the last couple of races,” said Rudy Rodriguez, trainer of Bank Frenzy. “We’ve been taking him to the gate and hopefully he breaks and puts himself in a good position.” Bank Frenzy has won at 1 1/8 miles, having gone gate to wire in a first-level statebred allowance in September 2023. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides. Russian Realm, trained by Danny Gargan, is the lone 3-year-old in the field. A son of Constitution, Russian Realm will be trying 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the Empire Classic. “He’s going to have to get better, but the distance plays to him a lot,” Gargan said. “I think he’s a nice horse. His running style will suit this distance.” Donegal Surges, second to Drake’s Passage in the Commentator, is coming off an open-company allowance win Sept. 28 at Aqueduct. Olympic Dreams, General Banker, Cicciobello, Mama’s Gold, and Jackson Heights complete the field. Empire Distaff Sterling Silver, a four-time New York-bred stakes winner in races contested up to a mile, will now try to add the $250,000 Empire Distaff at 1 1/8 miles to her résumé on Sunday. In her 26-race career, Sterling Silver has not run beyond 1 1/16 miles, but her 9 3/4-length victory in the Johnstone Mile on Aug. 7 at Saratoga is why trainer Bill Mott wants to try her longer as opposed to the 6 1/2 furlongs of the Iroquois Stakes, a race she won last year for trainer Tom Albertrani on this same New York Showcase Day card. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “It seems like 6 1/2 or even seven you’re rushing her to keep up a little bit. It’s not like she lays up close to the pace under a hold,” Mott said. “We thought try her at this distance one time. The owner was all in for trying; I am too.” A victory in the Empire Distaff would put Sterling Silver over the $1 million mark in career earnings. The same can be said for Venti Valentine, who is cataloged to be sold at Fasig-Tipton on Nov. 4, meaning the Empire Distaff likely will be her last start. She is a five-time New York-bred stakes winner, including a 6 3/4-length score in the Critical Eye going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga in June. Most recently, she finished second in the Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park. “She’s got that habit where she doesn’t want to break, so she loses her position,” said trainer Jorge Abreu, who noted that in the Obeah Paco Lopez “had to use her a little bit early on and that probably cost us winning the race. She looked at the quarter pole that she was going to finish nowhere and then she came running again at the end.” The six-horse field includes Amanda’s Folly, who has not been out since a second-level allowance win at Saratoga in July, and Smokin’ Hot Kitty, who has won five of her last seven starts but was a well-beaten third by Sterling Silver in the Johnstone Mile. Rodriguez has Bon Adieu coming back a week after she won an allowance at 28-1 and Call Her Bluff two weeks after she finished second in a statebred allowance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.