The death has been announced of Empire Maker, the sire of 12 Grade 1 winners and grandsire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
The 20-year-old died at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky on January 18 after a battle with a rare disease that had affected his immune system.
Bred and raced by Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm and trained by Bobby Frankel, Empire Maker blazed a trail in North America in 2003 when he was the only three-year-old colt of his generation to win three Grade 1 races.
Victories in the Belmont Stakes, Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial were underscored by his second behind Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby.
A son of champion Unbridled, out of the Grade 1-winning El Gran Senor mare Toussaud, he began his own career at stud in the following year at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington at a fee of $100,000 where his major winners included Bodemeister, Royal Delta, and Pioneerof the Nile before being sold to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association in November 2010.
Empire Maker stood at the Shizunai Stallion Station until 2015, when he was brought back from Japan by Gainesway and Don Alberto.
“The passing of Empire Maker will leave a tremendous void not only in the breeding industry as we know it, but in the hearts of all of us who worked with him, every day,” Gainesway owner Antony Beck said in a statement.
“It was a huge honor and privilege to stand Empire Maker at Gainesway with our partners Don Alberto. He was the epitome of class and quality. I have never been involved with a stallion that possessed a better disposition.
“His impact on the breed has been significant, particularly producing very sound stock. He will be missed by all of us at Gainesway.”
To date, Empire Maker is the sire of 726 individual winners, 62 stakes winners, including 33 at the graded level, and a dozen Grade I winners. His daughters have produced 43 stakes winners.