Inca Empire fits the Oklahoma Classics pattern for owner Danny Caldwell

Inca Empire’s pedigree as a half-brother to Oklahoma-bred star Miss Code West was one of the reasons owner Danny Caldwell claimed the horse for $20,000 in June at Prairie Meadows.

Fast forward to last Friday night, when Inca Empire gave Caldwell his third win in the year’s richest race for Oklahoma-bred runners, the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup at Remington Park.

And on the same card for different connections, Miss Code West won her division’s richest race for Oklahoma-breds, the $145,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff.

Inca Empire on Friday overtook pacesetter C W Prize for a 1 3/4-length win in the Classics Cup. Isaac Castillo was aboard the 5-year-old gelding who was winning his first stakes. Inca Empire was returning to dirt after a somewhat rare start on turf.

“I knew getting him back on the dirt, his numbers fit with everybody else,” Caldwell said. “I pointed toward this race when I claimed him, but I just had to run him on the grass because he was in jail in Iowa and I couldn’t run him in an allowance race here and I didn’t want to run him for a tag. That’s what prompted putting him on the grass.”

:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.

Inca Empire follows a pattern of Caldwell winners in the Classics Cup. The owner’s first win in the race came in 2012 with Fifth Date, whom he had claimed the same year for $18,000. His second win in the race came in 2020 with Don’t Tell Noobody, whom he claimed the same year for $15,000.

Inca Empire is a son of Midshipman and the Kipling mare Inca Miss.

“He’s got the pedigree to be a racehorse,” Caldwell said. “No doubt.”

There were other reasons for the claim, too.

“I am a numbers guy,” Caldwell said. “Go by the numbers and how he’d run in the past.”

It call came together for the Classics Cup.

“I felt like we had a chance if we’d get a pace to run at and stalk,” Caldwell said of Inca Empire. “Isaac did a super job of letting the pace go and he pushed the button when it was time to push the button and we had horse and it just all worked out.

“It’s a plan and sometimes they don’t work out, but luckily it did [Friday].”

Caldwell would like to run Inca Empire back in an Oklahoma-bred allowance and said later in the meet the horse could return to stakes company for the $75,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial. The open company race is Dec. 13 at Remington.

Hawk’s big night

Bryan Hawk is the breeder of both Inca Empire and Miss Code West, which were among four stakes winners that he bred on Friday night’s Oklahoma Classics Night card at Remington Park.

Hawk also bred Mister Omaha, who won the $100,000 Juvenile and Take Me Serious, who captured the $130,000 Distaff Sprint. Hawk is the owner of both horses, who are trained by Joe Offolter.

There were eight Oklahoma-bred stakes run last Friday.

Dates set for Louisiana Downs

The Louisiana Racing Commission has approved a 70-date Thoroughbred meet for Louisiana Downs in 2025, according to an official with the agency.

The Bossier City, La., track is scheduled to open on May 3 and race through Sept. 25.

*** The multiple stakes winner Free Drop Maddy goes in an allowance sprint Thursday night at Delta Downs.

*** The Downs at Albuquerque canceled after the first race Saturday night due to muddy track conditions. The feature was the $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap over 1 1/8 miles and it has been rescheduled for the closing-day card Sunday, Oct. 27, according to Izzy Trejo, the executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission. The race will not be redrawn, but run as originally drawn, said Trejo.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.