After Years of Preparation, Race Horse Set to Achieve Rare Feat Accomplished by Only 0.1% of Its Kind at the Kentucky Derby

Churchill Downs is gearing up to pull off an extravagant Kentucky Derby for the year 2023. Most of the stellar horses that are qualified to run for the 1 ¼ miles race have reached Louisville to show their might on May 6th. Angel of Empire, a horse from the local farm in Pennsylvania, has made it to the top five ranks on the leaderboard.

Ranked 3rd with 154 points, Angel of Empire, is trained by Brad H. Cox and considered a longshot in the race with predicted odds at 29-1. Now, the owners of the Blackstone farm, home to the thoroughbred, are proud of the horse for pulling off a rare feat, i.e., the Kentucky Derby selection.

Angel of Empire entered the 2023 Derby beating the odds

Angel of Empire was born and brought up in the Blackstone Farm located in Pine Grove. Christain Black recalls the horse’s early life on the farm and says, “You know, he was raised here, and his mom was here and they had all their the earliest steps in their life was all taken here on this farm.” Black is a Co-owner of Blackstone farm which is home to hundreds of horses.

He is proud of the foal who managed to enter the derby after years of hard training. “0.1% of all foals born in America make it to the Derby. Very exciting, you know. We are very proud of it, you know, we put a lot of time and desire, you know, a lot of time into this, you know, it’s a 24/7 job,” says Black to MyTwinTiers.Com, reflecting on the sheer struggle that goes into raising derby champions. Angel of Empire is only second in number to enter the grand race from Blackstone.

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Only horses who score high points in the series of stake races under the name Road to the Kentucky Derby, make it to the top twenty for Kentucky Derby. “You have to win or finish very highly in some graded stakes races and he won the risen star which was a grade 2 I believe. He got 50 points for that and then he won the Arkansas Derby, which he got 100 points for,” says the co-owner of the farm, Douglas Black speaking highly of Angel of Empire.

Angel of Empire gets a Champion Jockey

The thoroughbred will be mounted by a French Group 1 race winner, Flavien Prat. The star jockey is also celebrated as the Champion Apprentice Jockey who shifted his base to the U.S. in 2015. He is not new to Churchill Downs track and in fact, a pioneer racer as he won the 2019 edition of the Derby as well as the Preakness Stakes, one of the Triple Crown races, in 2021.

The equestrian fraternity is definitely gearing up for the spectacular show on 6th May. The Kentucky Derby will kick off at 6:57 p.m. ET, and fans could tune in to NBCSports.com and Peacock to witness who wins ‘The Run for the Roses’.

Watch the story here: 30-year-old popular rider confirmed as Jockey for Angel of Empire in highly anticipated Kentucky Derby