‘A tremendous void.’ Top sire Empire Maker dies at Gainesway at age 20.
Empire Maker, whose brilliant racing career lasted less than a year but whose influence as a stallion will measure almost two decades, died over the weekend at Gainesway Farm in Lexington.
Empire Maker, who was 20 years old, was felled by a rare disease that compromised his immune system, the farm said in a news release.
Between Oct. 20, 2002, and Aug. 3, 2003, Empire Maker raced eight times for Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. Empire Maker won four of those races, including the 2003 Belmont Stakes when he denied Funny Cide the Triple Crown. He finished second three times, including the 2003 Kentucky Derby, and was third once.
“Empire Maker is the best horse I have ever trained,” Frankel said at the time.
After a flare-up of a recurring front hoof injury made it impossible to ready him for that year’s Breeders’ Cup, Empire Maker was retired from racing in October 2003 and sent to stand stud at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington in 2004.
“He’s one of the best stallion prospects we’ve seen in decades,” a prescient Garrett O’Rourke, manager of Juddmonte Farms, said upon Empire Maker’s retirement. “Given the horse’s value, it was a hard decision, but there was too much to lose.”
Empire Maker stood for $100,000 in 2004 and his fee was still near the top of Gainesway’s roster at $85,000 in 2019.
Empire Maker sired 12 Grade 1 winners, including Bodemeister, Royal Delta and Pioneerof the Nile. In November, 2010, he was sold to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association and stood at the Shizunai Stallion Station. In 2015, he was repatriated from Japan by Gainesway and Don Alberto Farm, and his first crop back in the U.S. resulted in Grade I winner Eight Rings. At last year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he was represented by a $2 million filly out of Lady Pewitt.
Empire Maker’s influence extended to his role as the grandsire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, champion 2-year-old Classic Empire, and Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming.
“The passing of Empire Maker will leave a tremendous void not only in the breeding industry as we know it, but in the hearts of all of us who worked with him every day,” Antony Beck, CEO of Gainesway, said in a news release. “It was a huge honor and privilege to stand Empire Maker at Gainesway with our partners Don Alberto. He was the epitome of class and quality. I have never been involved with a stallion that possessed a better disposition. His impact on the breed has been significant, particularly producing very sound stock. He will be missed by all of us at Gainesway.”
Carlos Heller, the owner of Don Alberto, recognized Empire Maker’s full body of work.
“We will always remember him as such a generous horse, always giving his best at every stage of his life. We can say that he was aptly named and indeed made an empire that keeps growing every day through his progeny.”