Empire Maker Is Out of Jockey Club Gold Cup

In a career filled with hiccups, Empire Maker has suffered another one on the threshold of a big race.

Trainer Bobby Frankel said Wednesday that his 3-year-old colt has suffered a bruised foot that will prevent him from running Saturday at Belmont Park in the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup, an important prep for the Breeders’ Cup.

Empire Maker’s latest injury is to his left front hoof, the same problem that flared before the Kentucky Derby. As the Derby favorite, Empire Maker ran second to Funny Cide, and Frankel said later that he was probably mistaken to run his horse.

Before this bruise, Empire Maker had been training well for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which also will draw Mineshaft, considered the best older horse in the country. Empire Maker, who would have been second choice in the race, worked six furlongs in 1:12 3/5 last Saturday and Frankel pronounced him ready to run.

Empire Maker, who sat on the sidelines as Funny Cide also won the Preakness, then beat Funny Cide in the Belmont Stakes, is a leading contender for 3-year-old honors. More important, he would have a shot at the horse-of-the-year title if he runs in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

“I don’t think this is a major injury,” said Frankel, who probably will send Empire Maker back to California to see if he can recover for the Breeders’ Cup. “One thing about this horse is that he can miss some time and still get ready for a race. He’s practiced it a lot, and we’ve got a month or so [before the Breeders’ Cup].”

Empire Maker has run once since he won the Belmont on June 7. He finished second to Strong Hope in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on Aug. 3, then he and Funny Cide missed the Travers. Empire Maker was coughing during Travers week.

If Empire Maker runs in the Breeders’ Cup without another race in between, it would mean a gap of 82 days between races. In 19 years, only one horse -- Precisionist, in the 1985 Sprint at Aqueduct -- has won a Breeders’ Cup race after a longer layoff. Precisionist won after being idle for 131 days. The biggest layoff for a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner has been 47 days, by Black Tie Affair when he won in 1991 at Churchill Downs.

The field for this year’s Classic already has taken some hits -- Funny Cide is not expected to run; on Monday, the owners of Candy Ride said he wouldn’t be running; and Murray Johnson, the trainer of Perfect Drift, has said that his horse won’t be coming to Santa Anita.

Because of Empire Maker’s defection, the anticipated small field for the Gold Cup may grow slightly. The only definite starters are Mineshaft, Moon Ballad and Evening Attire, who won the race last year. With Empire Maker out, his jockey, Jerry Bailey, was able to jump to Moon Ballad, the English import who is winless in two starts since winning the Dubai World Cup in March.

In another development at Belmont on Wednesday, Funny Cide, working on grass for the first time, turned in an unsatisfactory five-furlong time of 1:03 and his trainer, Barclay Tagg, ruled out any turf races this year. Tagg has not identified Funny Cide’s next race.