CLASSIC Empire is the third Grade 1 winner for his sire Pioneerof The Nile and he captured the Grade 1 Sentient Jet Breeders Cup Juvenile, joining the stalwarts American Pharoah and Midnight Storm in claiming that honour. A $475,000 yearling buy last September at Keeneland, he is now winner of four of his five starts and previously was successful in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes.

Sambuca Classica is the dam of Classic Empire and she is now responsible for three stakes winners among her first four foals. The others are Anytime Magic (by Fusaichi Pegasus) and Uptown Twirl, a daughter of Twirling Candy. A daughter of Cat Thief, Sambuca Classica is a half-sister to six winners and their dam In Her Glory was a minor stakes winner but placed in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes and Gazelle Handicap.