L’Imperator. (NYRA Photo)
Eclipse Award-winner Merry Maker pointed to G1 Lonesome Glory
Belmont at the Big A Notes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hudson River Farms’ L’Imperator was set to miss the inaugural running of the Grade 1, $150,000 Beverly R. Steinman, with a foot abscess before its original date of June 9, the final day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
The 2 3/8-mile route was rescheduled to Thursday at Belmont at the Big A after strong rains forced the cancellation of turf racing that day. The 7-year-old Holy Roman Emperor gelding made a quick recovery for trainer Archibald Kingsley, Jr., and the previously dual Grade 1-placed jumper earned a breakthrough score at the topflight.
Kingsley, Jr., who conditioned last year’s Eclipse Award-winning Steeplechaser Merry Maker, said this new Grade 1 will play a role for year-end honors, and the trail will likely include a trio of Grade 1 events in New York: the $150,000 A. P. Smithwick Memorial on July 17 and the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard on August 14 at Saratoga Race Course, as well as the Lonesome Glory in September at Aqueduct.
“The book ends are in New York with this, the two Saratoga Grade 1s, and then the finish again here with the Lonesome Glory. To me, the horse that makes the strongest showing over the next two months is your Eclipse Award finalist,” said Kingsley, Jr. “These are the races that I want to win most, and this horse is well-suited for the racetrack and that style of racing.”
L’Imperator entered the Steinman off four consecutive on-the-board finishes, including a last-out third at the Grade 1-level to the victorious Rampoldi Plan in the Commonwealth Cup on May 4 at Great Meadow. With a well-timed closing ride by Jordan Gainford Thursday, he turned the tables on that same foe, who battled on the front-end with Ziggle Pops for a large portion of the race.
“As a jockey, you have such a feel for how the other horses are going around you. The horse we were most concerned about, Rampoldi Plan, was trading punches with Ziggle Pops,” Kingsley, Jr. “He was just waiting to make a run at them. It was great the way it played out.”
Kingsley, Jr. confirmed L’Imperator, now 27-10-1-8 lifetime and 10-3-1-5 over the jumps, exited the victory in good order and will target the Grade 1 A. P. Smithwick. He added that Gainford, who rides in Ireland, would return to ride at The Spa.
“L’Imperator seems great. I mean you would mistake him for the track pony. You could let him graze outside the barn and just walk away, he knows he did something great yesterday,” Kingsley, Jr. said. “I said to Gainford, ‘I’m going to need you to come back and ride this horse for me.’ He said ‘You’d have to fight me to keep me from coming back.’”
Kingsley, Jr. said that the French-bred L’Imperator, who won the Grade 2 Fort Marcy on the flat in May 2022 at Belmont Park for trainer Chad Brown, has flourished with more experience over the jumps.
“He was performing at a high level for Chad, so I didn’t really turn anything around, just continued what he started. I’m grateful Chad is a horseman enough that he had so much left in the horse,” Kingsley, Jr. said. “He’ll get a little bit of rest and we will reload and do it again in a little over a month.”
Kingsley, Jr., provided an update on Hurricana Farm’s reigning Champion Steeplechaser Merry Maker, who hasn’t recorded any activity since a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Grand National Hurdle in October at Far Hills.
“Merry Maker is back in training; he suffered a little bit of a setback this spring but nothing serious. On the spectrum of injuries, we deal with for steeplechasers, probably ranks a one out of 10. It’s pretty much a certainty he’ll be back in top form at some point,” said Kingsley, Jr. “I’m hoping by the end of the summer for the Lonesome Glory, but he won’t be back until he is absolutely 100 percent.”
Before his last effort, the Irish-bred 7-year-old Malinas gelding captured the Lonesome Glory by a half-length over L’Imperator, with the Kingsley, Jr-trained Barbados rounding out the trifecta.
