Farm owner prays for healthy finish as Schuylkill-born Angel of Empire set to run Kentucky Derby

May 6—PINE GROVE — With less than an hour to go in the most famous two minutes in sports, a Schuylkill County bred thoroughbred has been named the favorite to win the 149th Kentucky Derby.

Angel of Empire, bred at Blackstone Farms in Pine Grove, came out of nowhere to work his way to an early favorite at Churchill Downs.

Post time is scheduled for 6:57 p.m.

Angel of Empire was declared the favorite when one major odds maker bet $1.2 million on the 3-year-old who won the Arkansas Derby by four lengths last month.

In early betting, NBC reported $36 million had been bet on Angel of Empire and the No. 2 contender.

Christian Black, Angel of Empires breeder, watched the colt work out Friday.

"He looks ready," Black said. "He's ready to go."

Pine Grove bred

In Blackstone Farm's broodmare stable, Doug Black leans over to check the pedigree of a newborn foal on a white board posted on a stall door.

Justify sired the foal, a colt born to Kortoba on May 3.

A few stalls away, he notes, there's a foal sired by American Pharoah.

Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018. American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015.

It was in these auspicious quarters that Angel of Empire was born on April 9, 2020.

While bred from good stock, there are no Triple Crown winners in Angel of Empire's lineage.

His mother, Armony's Angel, was winless in eight races when owner Chris Black purchased her for $67,000. She was already in foal to Classic Empire, a 2016 Breeders Cup juvenile winner.

Among a crop of about 50 or so foals born that year, Angel of Empire didn't particularly stand out.

"Angel was a big gangly colt," Doug Black recalls. "We thought he would be a distance runner, not a sprinter."

Angel lived at Blackstone Farm, co-owned by Doug Black and Chris Black, who are not related. Chris is Angel of Empire's breeder. Doug has no interest in the thoroughbred.

Chris sold Angel of Empire to Albaugh Family Stables for $70,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale at Des Moines, Iowa, in 2021. To date, the horse has earned slightly more than $1 million in stake money, including winning the Arkansas Derby in April.

Angel of Empire's inclination toward distance over speed, Black said, could work to his advantage in the Kentucky Derby.

He won the mile-and-one-eighth Arkansas Derby by more than 4 lengths in a time of 1:49.68. The Kentucky Derby is slightly longer at a mile-and-one-quarter.

Angel of Empire is not bothered by a crowd, he said, and doesn't mind running behind other horses. Out of gate No. 14, the 3-year-old thoroughbred will take some time to settle into the pack, he predicted.

"He took a while to grow into himself," Doug Black said. "He's peaked at just the right time."

PA BRED

Doug Black, 66, traces his love of horse racing to his youth in New Jersey.

He loved Kelso, a racing Hall of Famer who is considered one of the greatest thoroughbreds in racing history. Kelso ranks fourth in the top 20 horses of the 20th Century.

"I think my love of racing really kicked in when Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973," he said. "I was 16 years old then."

Black, who bought Blackstone Farms in 2006, has been breeding horses for 30 years. He was joined as a partner by Chris Black, a native of Denmark, in 2010.

Blackstone Farms, a 350-acre tract of rolling hills near Pine Grove, has bred 58 foals so far this season. The number will reach about 65 by season's end.

Under racing rules, thoroughbreds must be sired in Kentucky. On a horse like Justify, Black said, the siring fee could be around $150,000.

Broodmares sired in Kentucky are returned to Pine Grove, where they undergo the process of foaling, or giving birth. Foals are typically born between January and late July.

All newborns are called foals, regardless of gender. On January 1 following their birth, regardless of the month in which they were born, they're called yearlings.

Blackstone Farms, Pennsylvania's No. 1 breeder for the last four years, has about 150 thoroughbreds in stock at any given time.

Black, who's vice president of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, said the real significance of Angel of Empire running at Churchill Downs is its focus on Pennsylvania bred thoroughbreds.

"It's exciting to see that a Pennsylvania-bred horse can compete with Kentucky-bred horses," he said.

In the 148-year history of the "Run for the Roses," 107 winners of the most exciting two minutes in sports were bred in the Bluegrass state. Only two — Smarty Jones (2004) and Lil E. Tee (1992) were bred in Pennsylvania.

Could Angel of Empire make it three, and perhaps win the Triple Crown?

Standing in the stable where Angel of Empire was born, Black was noncommittal.

"I just pray he comes out of it healthy," he said, "and runs his own race."

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007