Champion Classic Empire will shuttle to Haras Paso Nevado in Chile for the 2019 Southern Hemisphere breeding season, the South American publication Turf Diario reports.
The 6-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile stands the Northern Hemisphere season at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., where he is about to wrap up his third season at stud. His first foals are yearlings of 2020.
Classic Empire earned the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male in 2016 on a campaign that included victories in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes, the G1 Breeders’ Futurity, and a grand finale in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He came back at three to win the G1 Arkansas Derby, then finish fourth in the Kentucky Derby. He then ran a narrowly-beaten second in the Preakness Stakes in his final career start, ending with five wins in nine races for earnings of $2,520,220.
Bred in Kentucky by Steven and Brandi Nicholson, Classic Empire is out of the placed Cat Thief mare Sambuca Classica, whose runners also include Anytime Magic and Uptown Twirl, as well as stakes-placed Exclamation Point.
His second dam is the multiple Grade 1-placed stakes winner In Her Glory, and his extended family includes champion Revidere and notable sire Boldnesian.
Haras Paso Nevado has been a popular destination for residents of Coolmore’s Northern Hemisphere stud farms, with previous residents including Scat Daddy, Lookin at Lucky, Powerscourt, and Verrazano.
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