New York-breds time to shine on annual Empire Showcase Day
At 0h03, on October 29, 2023 • By BELMONT@THE BIG A
A total of 100 New York-breds are entered for a special 10-race card on Closing Day Sunday at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet to celebrate the best of New York for the annual Empire Showcase Day, featuring eight stakes races worth $1.6 million, led by the $250,000 Empire Classic and $250,000 Empire Distaff.
“Empire Showcase Day is the highlight of the fall racing calendar for New York owners and breeders,” said Najja Thompson, Executive Director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. “We’re proud each of our three Showcase Days on the NYRA circuit throughout the year have proven to be premiere days displaying the strength and competitiveness of the New York-bred program for all participants.”
Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s multiple stakes-winner Barese [post 5, Ruben Silvera] enters the co-featured Empire Classic [Race 10], a nine-furlong test for 3-year-olds and up, from a score in the Genesee Valley Breeders’ on September 4 at Finger Lakes.
Trained by Mike Maker, the 4-year-old Laoban colt boasts a record of 16-6-2-3 for purse earnings of $531,252 led by 2022 stakes scores in the Rego Park, Gander and New York Derby. Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lakland Farm, Barese, who will add blinkers, finished third in this event last year after a troubled trip in which he bobbled at the start and bumped with rivals before making a wide run to miss place by a neck and the win by one length behind the victorious Dr. Blute.
