Empire Maker and So Brilliant to go head to head in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue
Fresh off their maiden stakes wins, Bob Baffert trained So Brilliant and Mike Harrington trainee Empire Way will come face to face for the first time when they step up to Graded Stakes Company in the Grade 3, $100,000 Hollywood Prevue at Hollywood Park on 24 November, 2011.
Seven 2-year-old colts will test their mettle in the seven furlong long dash at Hollywood Park over the cushion track, and apart from So Brilliant and Empire Way, M Machowsky trained Hodge is also coming off maiden special weight race win at Santa Anita along with M Puype trained Muchos Besos is the fourth juvenile colt in the lineup who is exiting off a victory in a maiden claimer race also at Santa Anita.
The Kentucky bred son of Medaglia d’Oro, out of mare Merry Me In Spring by Wekiva Springs, So Brilliant is coming off a spectacular win at Santa Anita Park’s dirt course on 22 October, 2011, at about six furlongs.
The juvenile colt defeated The Roan Ranger and Hustlin Nu, who finished second and third, respectively, with the winning time of 1 minute and 9.02 seconds.
So Brilliant will be looking to finish in the Hollywood Prevue on a high to take that momentum in to the Grade 1, $750,000 CashCall Futurity for 2-year-olds at Hollywood Park.
Heinz Steinmann owned Mike Harrington trained Empire Way is the son of Empire Maker, out of mare Delta Princess by A.P. Indy, will continue his good run at Hollywood Park after breaking his maiden on its synthetic surface at about six and a half furlongs on 13 November, 2011.
The Kentucky bred juvenile colt defeated runner up Holy Candy and third placed Unmarked Bills in convincing fashion to wrap up the race in 1 minute and 17.93 seconds.
There is a possibility that Empire Maker might meet So Brilliant for the second time in the Grade 1, $750,000 CashCall Futurity Stakes at Hollywood Park next month.
The rest of the field consists of J Sadler’s Sweet Swap who will be under jockey Joel Rosario, Brother Francis, the 6th place finisher in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity Sheer Talent and the son of Flatter, Galex, to complete the lineup.
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