Tiz Eddie wins Empire Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis

Tiz Eddie and Mitchell Murrill made all the right moves Friday at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The duo led for the majority of the one and one-sixteenth mile race, scoring the win in the 26^th running of the $100,000 Empire Handicap.

Tiz Eddie wasted no time displaying his intentions and went right out to the early lead for Murrill. They settled well on the front end as Mackadoo and Rodney Prescott sat to their outside. Sir Bahjy and Marcelino Pedroza Jr. were gapped off the top two with CJ’s Storm and Alberto Burgos holding their own along the outside.

In the final turn, Tiz Eddie picked up the tempo and was able to scoot around the final turn and open up several lengths on the field. He was making it as hard as possible for the late closers to gain any ground on him.

In the lane, those late closers had the opportunity to close in, but Tiz Eddie was strong through the wire, winning by three lengths under wraps by Murrill. Kingsbury Road and Santo Sanjur closed down the lane to finish a strong second over Positive Change and Sammy Bermudez, who finished third in a photo. Time of the race was 1:44.19.

Tiz Eddie was the favorite of the field, paying $4.80 for the win, the first favorite of the day to win in the first eight races on the card. The five-year-old son of Sahara Sky is a homebred owned by Ellen K. Hobson and bred by Don Hobson. Tomas Medina trains the gelding, who earned his second win of 2026 and his seventh overall.

The Indiana sired speedster now has more than $280,000 on his card. It was the biggest win of his career and his first premier racing victory, all turned in at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

“This horse (Tiz Eddie) is very fast,” noted Murrill in a post-race interview with Rachel McLaughlin. “I was a little concerned he might not relax on the lead, especially since he was stretching out for the first time, but he showed his class today and put it all together and brought it home. He’s one of those horses that as much class as can be and he’s fun to ride.”

The Shelby County Post is a digital newspaper producing news, sports, obituaries and more without a pay wall or subscription needed.