SARATOGA 2023: L’Imperator is primed for Wednesday’s Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Coming off an impressive allowance victory earlier this summer at Saratoga Race Course, L’Imperator appears primed to take his next step in a successful transition from flat racing to the jump game in Wednesday’s Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard Stakes at the Spa.
Owned by Hudson River Farms and trained by Archibald Kingsley, Jr., the French-bred L’Imperator was a graded stakes winner on the flat for Chad Brown before beginning his career over hurdles. L’Imperator enters the $150,000 Sheppard, a 2 3/8-mile test for older jumpers, from an impressive Saratoga allowance win on July 26 in which he earned his first victory against winners over the hurdles in a 2 1/16-mile route. The son of Holy Roman Emperor was as many as 18 lengths back of pacesetter Beat Le Bon but showed a spectacular turn of foot in the final turn to take the lead and romp home an 8 3/4-length winner under Stephen Mulqueen.
“He looked good in that race up here,” said Kingsley, Jr. “He’s shown talent and aptitude from the very start. His first two runs (on the hurdle) were pretty educational and his flat form tells you that he’s such a classy horse. He’s taken to hurdling with aplomb. It’s all very satisfying; he enjoys it and is good at it. It’s fun for us to have a horse like this in our barn.”
L’Imperator, who won last year’s Grade 2 Fort Marcy on the flat for Brown, earned his other victory over hurdles at third asking in a 2 1/4-mile maiden special weight on May 13 at Percy Warner ahead of a distant off-the-board finish in the two-mile Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup on the flat at Belmont Park.
“You can draw a line through the Belmont Gold Cup and his first two races [over hurdles] were pretty educational,” said Kingsley, Jr. “When he broke his maiden in Nashville, it’s a very different style racetrack as more of a galloping track and he came back on something much more speed favoring. It shows his versatility.”
Parker Hendriks will be aboard L’Imperator (9-2) from post 1. L’Imperator will carry 148 pounds.
Kingsley also sends out Merry Maker (post 6, Graham Watters, 144 pounds, 12-1). Owned by Hurricana Farm, Merry Maker enters from a third-place effort in the Jonathan Kiser Novice on Aug. 2, where he rallied from seventh of eight to improve to third position into the final straightaway. He kept on well to secure show honors, 14 1/2 lengths behind returning rival McTigue. Merry Maker makes his graded debut in his third start of the season and looks to build upon an allowance coup in May at Grand Meadow.
“We like him, too,” said Kingsley, Jr. “He might be a little more suited for the hunt meet, but he didn’t do anything wrong in the Kiser and was just in need of the race. He was coming off a bit of a layoff.”
Keystone Thoroughbreds’ graded stakes-winner Noah And The Ark (4-1) will carry a field-high 158 pounds as he attempts to double up on Grade 1 scores. Trained by Todd McKenna, the 9-year-old son of Vinnie Roe earned the biggest win of his career in September when taking the 2 1/2-mile Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Handicap at Belmont at the Big A at odds of 41-1 with an off-the-pace trip under regular pilot Harrison Beswick.
“It was a shock to me and it was a shock to the bettors,” said McKenna, with a laugh. “He’s a beautiful horse and he came over to America with five wins (in England), so to have wins over there before arriving here was a good thing. We did have high hopes for him, it was just a tough time getting to that spot.”
Noah And The Ark followed with a distant runner-up effort to Hewick in the Grade 1 Grand National at Far Hills over yielding footing to close out his 8-year-old campaign. He returned this year in the Grade 1 Iroquois at Percy Warner where he finished a fading fifth after stalking the pace in the three-mile test for older horses.
The chestnut gelding arrives from a closing fourth in the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Handicap on July 19 at the Spa where he tracked in last-of-9 throughout before putting in a mild bid at the 1 3/4-mile call and improving to finish fourth 13 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Belfast Banter.
McKenna said some pre-race antics contributed to Noah And The Ark being farther back than usual in the Smithwick, and that he expects Beswick to be a bit more aggressive on Wednesday.
“He was able to get Harry off his back in the paddock,” said McKenna. “He’s a funny horse in that sense and he can throw a tantrum, but when it comes to doing business, he’s professional. But Harry thought he was going to be really keen, so he dropped him out thinking that he would fight his way up closer, and the exact opposite happened. By the time he gathered him up to go, it was a little too late. I would expect him to be more handy this race.”
Beswick retains the mount from post 5.
Completing the field are last-out Kiser-winner McTigue (post 9, Gerard Galligan, 150 pounds, 7-2) for trainer Cyril Murphy; the Keri Brion-trained pair of stakes-winner Theocrat (post 4, Bernard Dalton, 150 pounds, 8-1) and impressive allowance-winner Jimmy P (post 2, Danny Mullins, 144 pounds, 6-1); graded stakes-winner Redicean (post 7, Robert Dunne, 146 pounds, 12-1) and stakes-winner Caramelised (post 10, Corey McGivern, 146 pounds, 20-1) for trainer Leslie Young; stakes-winner West Newton (post 8, Jack Kennedy, 146 pounds, 12-1) for conditioner Richard Hendriks; and Kiser runner-up Awakened (post 3, Thomas Garner, 146 pounds, 6-1) for Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher.
