Casse Mulls Sunshine Forever for War of Will

A lack of graded stakes across the nation has created a dilemma for many trainers who planned to kick off the season for their barn stars in April or May. With many stakes postponed or canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question is: Where do they send horses who are ready to run?

Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is among those with that dilemma as he looks for spots for last year's Preakness Stakes (G1) winner, War of Will, and last year's TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) runner-up, Got Stormy, among others.

Gary Barber's War of Will, who has not raced since the Nov. 2 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), is prominent on a list of 37 nominations for the May 9 Sunshine Forever Stakes at Gulfstream Park, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 4-year-olds and up. 

"I could run (War of Will). I may run March to the Arch. There's a shot I might supplement—although I didn't nominate her—Got Stormy. I don't know which one I'm going to run. I wouldn't run all three," said Casse, who is closely monitoring the developments in California and Kentucky.

"Everything's kind of up in the air right now. All three of them are ready. Like I said, there's no way I'm going to run all three. I don't know if I'd run two against each other. Right now, War of Will is No. 1 on the list to go."

While the 4-year-old son of War Front  raced in all three of last year's Triple Crown races and won both the Lecomte Stakes (G3) and the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) on dirt, he began his career with promise on turf, finishing second to Fog of War in the 2018 Summer Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine.

War of Will has breezed seven times at Palm Meadows Training Center in preparation for his 2020 debut. Three of those breezes came on turf, including two bullet moves in the middle of April. His April 18 work was a four-furlong breeze from the gate in :46.35, the fastest of 98 at the distance that day.

Live Oak Plantation's March to the Arch is a gelded son of Arch whom Casse saddled to victory in the Wise Dan Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs last year. This year, he was third in both the Feb. 8 Tampa Bay Stakes (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs and the March 28 Appleton Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream. Barber's Got Stormy was a multiple grade 1 winner in 2019, and the 5-year-old mare most recently finished second in the March 7 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.

Other trainers have also taken note of the upcoming Sunshine Forever. Trainer Michael Maker nominated seven horses, including graded stakes winners Bemma's Boy and Mr Dumas.

Trainer Todd Pletcher is represented by four horses on the nominations list, including Social Paranoia, who notched a victory in the Appleton, and Sombeyay, who won the Feb. 29 Canadian Turf Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream.

Others on the list include El Tormenta, who won the Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T) last fall; A Thread of Blue, who took the Palm Beach Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream on his way to winning the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes last year; and Hawkish, who won the 2018 Penn Mile Stakes (G2T) at Penn National.