SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Arch Kinglsley saddled L'Imperator to win the $70,000, 2 1/16 mile Allowance Hurdle by 8 3/4 lengths at Saratoga on Wednesday, July 26.

Early in the stretch, L'Imperator leads Beat Le Bon to the wire in Saratoga (Photo by Tod Marks)Hudson River Farms' L'Imperator, ridden by Steve Mulholland, ran well off the pace set by Beat Le Bon, trained by Jack Fisher, began to move after the last fence on the backstretch, caught Beat Le Bon on the turn and drew away to win easily.

Beat Le Bon was second and Hoffman, trained by Leslie Young, was third, another 13 3/4 lengths further back.

Not only did L'Imperator win, but he finished in 3:47.42, a little over six seconds faster than the time set by Belfast Banter in winning the G1 Smithwick.

"I think he's a good horse," said Kingsley, which might turn out to be a pretty big understatement.

Kingsley said he's now aiming L'Imperator for the G1 Jonathan Sheppard on Aug. 16 at Saratoga.

Kingsley and Ed Swyer, owner of Hudson River Farms, teamed up to win the Sheppard when it was known as the N.Y. Turfwriters as jockey and owner when Nine Pins, trained by Sheppard, won.

 

"JONATHAN brought Ed and me together," said Kingsley.

Kingsley prepped L'Imperatore, Cibolian and Barbados for hurdle races by running all three in the $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup Stakes on June 9.

L'Imperator and Cibolian won next time  out, and Barbados is scheduled to run next week.

"L'Imperator ran off with Trevor McCarthy in the Gold Cup," said Kingsley. "But Steve has a set of hands like Alka-seltzer. He looked like he always had him under control."

"L'Imperatpr running off in the Gold Cup took a little of the starch out of him," he said. "Plus, you put a couple of fences in front of a horse it backs them up a little.

"I left it up to Steve in this race, but that's the way he won at Iroquois," said Kingsley. "Steve fits my horses really well."

"God willing, he'll certainly be back," said Kingsley. "He likes it up here."

"L'Imperator has an incredibly good flat record," he said. "We bought him for a not exorbitant price at Keeneland."

The 6-year-old gelding had seven wins, including two stakes wins, one in a G2, on the flat.

Kingsley bought him for Swyer for $75,000 at the Keeneland Horse of Racing Age sale in 2022, and he has run five times this year, finishing third twice in maiden races over hurdles before breaking his maiden over fences at Iroquois.

"It's fun to have a good horse like this in the barn," said Kingsley. "Actually I have four of them now, so we have some exciting prospects."