Casse Plots War of Will's Pennsylvania Derby Path

After Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War of Will had what trainer Mark Casse called "his big work" Sept. at Saratoga Race Course before his next race, the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) Sept. 21, trainer Mark Casse said the son of War Front will ship to Parx Racing the morning of the race.

War of Will is scheduled to leave Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Tuesday and ship to Belmont Park, where he will have his final preparations for the Pennsylvania Derby. Casse plans to ship his horse to Parx on the morning of the race.

When War of Will steps on the track at Parx for the race, it will be the first he has seen it.

"He has run pretty good everywhere we have taken him, so not really," Casse said when asked if he was concerned about that. 

War of Will has raced 12 times in his career and has four wins, a second, and a third. This year, he has three wins in seven starts. He hasn't raced since finishing fifth in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) July 27 at Saratoga. After that performance, Casse decided to skip the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and point instead to the Pennsylvania Derby.

Casse said the extra time off helped the son of War Front, much like it did after the Louisiana Derby (G2) in the spring. In that race, War of Will was never a factor. He finished ninth after having an issue with his hind end coming out of the gate.

The horse did not start again until the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) 42 days later where he finished seventh following the incident that led to the disqualification of Maximum Security who crossed the finish line first and was disqualified because of interference in the far turn.

War of Will will have had 56 days between the Jim Dandy and the Pennsylvania Derby.

"I think everybody would agree he was on his game in the (Kentucky) Derby," Casse said. "He was just unfortunate. I kind of looked at that when I made the decision (not to run in the Travers). Every horse can throw in a little bit of a clunker. Some days, they just have bad days."

That's what Casse is hoping happened in the Jim Dandy. That was the second straight race War of Will finished off the board; he was ninth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) after winning the Preakness. Casse is hopeful his colt will bounce back in the Pennsylvania Derby. From what he has seen from him this summer, he expects that.

"I don't see any reason why not," Casse said. "He looked well. I think he likes the cool weather. When it gets a little cooler, he really picks his head up. Hopefully, the weather will stay fairly cool and we will have a nice, cool day in Pennsylvania."

War of Will breezed five furlongs Sept. 1 on the Saratoga main track in a bullet :59.55 seconds. The move was fastest of 24 recorded works at the distance and followed his bullet half-mile move Aug. 25 at the Spa.

"I thought he went well," Casse said. "I was trying to get a little air into him. I wanted to get him tired because we are three weeks out from the race."

Meanwhile, it's going to be an early day for Maximum Security Sept. 6 as the two-time grade 1 winner is scheduled to be on track at Parx Friday morning. But he won't be in town long.

Trainer Jason Servis said Sunday that his plan is to ship Maximum Security to Parx Friday, work the horse over the track, put him back on the van and head back to Monmouth. Servis said it takes one-hour and 15-minutes to get from Monmouth to Parx.

Servis said he will ship the horse at 4:30 in the morning, get him on track by 6:30 a.m. and then have him home at Monmouth in time for breakfast at 10:30.

"We will then ship back down in nine or 10 days after that to breeze him again," Servis said. "Then, we'll either stay there or go back to Monmouth."

Maximum Security hasn't run since winning the Haskell Invitational (G1) July 20 at Monmouth. After that race, Servis wanted to run in the Travers at Saratoga, but the Haskell effort knocked his horse out for a while.

Temperatures were in the high 90s and the heat index was over 100 the day of the Haskell. Officials at Monmouth were forced to delay the race several hours until the temperatures cooled off.

"It was tough, a hot day, and he ran hard," Servis said. "I think he was glad I didn't run him back in the Travers. I would say he is starting to get some good color to him. We still have to get through some things, but we are looking forward to the race."