Team Brown's audible, equipment change result in $33 Joe Hirsch upset by Rockemperor
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown had made some changes to Rockemperor’s equipment and was anxious to see how they would work when he entered him in a third-level allowance race scheduled to be run Thursday at Belmont Park.
When the race didn’t draw enough entries to fill, one of Brown’s owners - Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables - suggested they take a shot and run Rockemperor in the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park. Brown, who felt Rockemperor ran better than the running lines would suggest when he was fourth in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer, agreed.
The gamble paid off for Brown, Kumin and his partners, and the gamblers who like to back Brown’s horses as Rockemperor - the second-longest price on the board at 15-1 - rallied widest of all in the stretch under Javier Castellano to win the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic by two lengths. For good measure. Brown ran second with Serve the King, a 14-1 shot, who finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of 9-5 favorite Gufo.
Channel Maker, last year’s Turf Classic winner, finished fourth and was followed, in order, by Arklow, Japan, and Cross Border.
Rockemperor, a 5-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor, had gone winless in 10 previous graded stakes tries and endured some tough beats, losing the Grade 1 Manhattan in 2020 by a neck and the Grade 2 Charlie Whittingham by a nose, though he was disqualified from second to third in that race.
“He has moved to the top of the list of one of the most deserving horses to win a Grade 1 in our barn,” Brown said. “He finally got it done.”
Observing that Rockemperor had gotten a bit rank in some of his most recent races, Brown decided to remove the blinkers in an attempt to get the horse to relax, and changed to a ring bit to give the rider more control.
Still, when Brown saw Rockemperor in the back of the pack with Gufo in the Joe Hirsch, he grew concerned.
“I was quite worried because of his late one-paced nature that if he’s around those other horses like Gufo that seem to kick a little harder than him, he’d be in trouble,” Brown said.
Castellano, who steadied Rockemperor back to last in the middle of the far turn, took his horse to the outside in an effort to follow Gufo, who was last early but made an early move under Joel Rosario.
Castellano had Rockemperor on the move but five wide turning for home. Gufo made the lead in upper stretch, but Rockemperor overtook him above the eighth pole and kicked clear to get the victory, just his fourth from 20 career starts.
“When Gufo moved he gave me the opportunity to follow him,” Castellano said. “I think that was the key to winning the race. He finished good. He’s the type of horse that if you settle in the beginning, he’s going to give it back to you. The only problem with him in the past was he’s always been keen and he never finished.”
Rockemperor covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:25.61, returned $33.20 to win, and earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure. He keyed a $1 Chad Brown exacta that returned $89.25.
While happy with Rockemperor, Brown was also pleased to see Serve the King step up in a Grade 1 race. Going back to last year, Brown was anxious to stretch Serve the King out in distance and on Aug. 25 he won the listed John’s Call Stales at 1 5/8 miles at Saratoga.
“To be fair, he had a lot of trouble,” Brown said. “He had a chance to win as well if he had a better trip.”
Brown is already pointing Domestic Spending and Tribhuvan to the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. He said he would evaluate the speed figures of the Joe Hirsch and talk to the owners before deciding whether or not to point Rockemperor and/or Serve the King to that race as well.
Meanwhile, trainer Christophe Clement was going to reserve judgement on future plans for Gufo, the Grade 1 Sword Dancer winner, until he evaluates the Joe Hirsch a little more. He did say he felt Rosario made a premature move on Gufo and Rosario didn’t necessarily disagree.
“Maybe I could have waited a little bit,” Rosario said. “Would it have made a difference? I don’t know.”