War Front Reclaims Dirt Sire Reputation

If Thoroughbred breeders were polled in January about whether preeminent international sire War Front  was a "dirt" or "turf" sire, "turf" would have won in a landslide. Conduct such a poll again this week and the majority might answer "both."

This year's march down the Road to the Kentucky Derby has featured two runners that have shifted the perception that War Front's best progeny are predominantly grass performers. They include the one-time Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) early favorite and Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Omaha Beach, who was scratched May 1 due to an entrapped epiglottis that will require surgery, and War of Will, who won the Lecomte Stakes (G3) and Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

The turf label attached to Claiborne Farm's 17-year-old son of Danzig has not been entirely unjustified. Out of the sire's 82 black-type winners to date, 69 (9% of runners) have won on the grass compared with 28 (4%) stakes winners on dirt. Five of those stakes winners on "dirt" actually earned their black type on synthetic surfaces, which seems to suit horses with turf pedigrees.

War Front did all his best running on dirt. He won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2) and was runner-up in the Forego Stakes (G1) and Vosburgh Stakes (G1). His first crop showed an affinity for both dirt and turf. That crop produced 11 black-type winners, of which five won on dirt.

The dirt stars included grade 1 winner The Factor , who won the Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park and the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. The colt out of Greyciousness (by Miswaki) also won the grade 1 Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar but the track still had its synthetic surface at the time. The first-crop dirt stakes winners also included Soldat , who won the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park. Subsequent crops have produced grade 1 dirt winner Peace and War and Departing, a multiple grade 2 winner and grade 1-placed on dirt.

"He started out with more of a reputation as a dirt sire. It wasn't until he had two winners at Royal Ascot on the same day that he got dubbed a turf sire," said Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne. He was referring to June 18, 2013, when War Front's sons Declaration of War won the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) and War Command won the Coventry Stakes (G2).

"Coolmore has obviously been super supportive of War Front, and they've bred mares to him that they've taken back over to Europe to run the offspring. Because of his success overseas, people here forgot he could sire a top-level dirt horse," Hancock continued. "We always knew he was a dual-threat kind of stallion, but it's gratifying that American breeders are recognizing this again."

Trainers Richard Mandella, the conditioner of Omaha Beach, and Mark Casse, who trains War of Will, prefer to start their young horses on the grass. The surface is kinder to young athletes and can give them a better first experience with racing when they don't have to deal with the kickback a dirt surface produces. But these trainers also look at pedigree when deciding the most suitable surface for a given horse. 

Omaha Beach made his first three starts on grass, while War of Will made his first four starts on grass with the intent of aiming him toward the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs.

"I just thought (on the grass) was a good way to start," Mandella said recently. "With each race, I thought he would blow them away." Omaha Beach finished third in his first start, followed by a second by a nose and then another second by a neck.

"His works on the dirt were always good, and I didn't see the same effort in his tries on the turf, so I said let's do it where he is doing it in the morning—on the dirt," Mandella recalled. Omaha Beach was second—a half-length behind Nolo Contesto—in his first start on dirt and then exploded with a nine-length win Feb. 2 in a $55,000 maiden special weight at Santa Anita.

 "After those first two (dirt) races, he really started looking like a star," Mandella said. 

Following his maiden win, Omaha Beach was tested in one division of the Rebel Stakes (G2), in which he held off a tough challenge from champion Game Winner to win by a nose. He came back stronger in the Arkansas Derby, winning by a length over grade 1 winner Improbable.

"He has a couple of different gears. (Jockey) Mike (Smith) was amazed in the last race that he could go, then relax, and then tighten up when he needed him to. He is not one-dimensional," Mandella said.

Even if War of Will was by a different sire, Casse still would have started him on the grass.

"To me, those first few races are so important to their careers," he said. "On the turf, if you let them relax, then they come running. It is positive."

Add War Front to the equation and Casse was convinced he had a budding turf star.

"War of Will was kind of unique. It took him a while to come around," Casse said. "He was at Saratoga training lights out. We worked a horse I liked a lot with him. … War of Will just destroyed him. I was thinking, 'If he is this good on the dirt, how good will he be on the grass?' He has grass pedigree top and bottom."

Casse started aiming for the Summer Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine because it is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race for the Juvenile Turf. He sent the horse to Woodbine for a maiden race to get a feel for the turf course and told his assistant David Adams he was sending him a "really serious horse." After Adams breezed War of Will the first time, Casse asked him how the horse looked. 

"He's OK," Adams told Casse, who had been expecting a more enthusiastic review.

War of Will finished third in his first start, which Casse said was likely because the horse had been rushed a bit into the race. Casse was still convinced the colt would win the Summer Stakes and stayed the course. But War of Will finished second in the Summer by three-quarters of a length to Fog of War, another son of War Front who won his debut at Saratoga Race Course.

"He got beat by a good horse, but Gary asked if we should try him on the dirt," Casse recalled about a conversation with War of Will's owner, Gary Barber. "I mean, the colt had just finished second in a grade 1. How do we now try him on the dirt? I told Gary we need to aim him for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf."

War of Will next raced in the Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland. He broke on top and was leading in the stretch, but after jockey Drayden Van Dyke tapped him with the whip, he switched leads and lost focus, according to Casse. The colt ended up finishing fourth, only three-quarters of length behind the winner.

After the loss, Barber again suggested running War of Will on dirt in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) instead of the Juvenile Turf.

"I told Gary he didn't get beat by that much. We have to run him in the Juvenile Turf," Casse said. War of Will finished fifth in the Juvenile Turf on a yielding Churchill Downs course.

"In the Breeders' Cup, he had a terrible trip. He ran 60 feet farther than the winner," Casse said. "After we got beat, the first thing Gary said was: 'Now we can run him on the dirt.'"

War of Will won his first start on the dirt by five lengths in a $76,000 maiden special weight at Churchill Downs. From there, he won the Lecomte and the Risen Star. Bad racing luck returned in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) where War of Will was taken out of his game four jumps after the break, and Casse said he appeared to have strained a muscle. 

The day after the Louisiana Derby, Casse said War of Will was fine, and the colt has been training well at Churchill Downs. He believes War of Will's pedigree and running style make him a legitimate Derby contender.

"A lot of turf horses will work good on the dirt here," the trainer said. "I've said this for 25 years: Any horse that has turf tendencies loves Churchill Downs more than any racetrack, especially around Derby time." Casse attributes this to the dirt track not being harrowed as deeply as a surface typically is at other racetracks. His case is bolstered by Derby winners Barbaro, a son of top turf sire Dynaformer who won his first stakes on grass, and Animal Kingdom , by grade 1 turf runner Leroidesanimaux, who won the Derby in his first start on dirt. 

Casse said both War of Will and Omaha Beach also have similar abilities to accelerate quickly, settle when asked, then accelerate again when needed.

"In the Derby, you have to make a few little moves. You have to hit the gas to get where you want to go," he said. "In the Arkansas Derby, Omaha Beach didn't get away really good, and Mike realized he wasn't happy in his position and pushed the gas pedal to put him where he wanted to be. Watch War of Will in the Lecomte. Same thing. They also said he couldn't win the Risen Star from the bad post, but Tyler (Gaffalione) could go 'whoosh!' and hit the gas."

War Front is already one of the top commercial sires in North America. He led the 2018 yearling market with an average of $783,000 and a $687,500 median. High-profile performers on the Kentucky Derby trail, however, could further enhance his commercial value, according to Bernie Sams Jr., Claiborne's stallion and bloodstock manager.

"This will mean more to people who have yearlings for sale this summer and fall. Now you will have people that will look at them and not just think they're turf horses," Sams said. "I do think it will throw some different people in there, and you'll have some buyers that might go another bid or two because they see him a dirt horse after all."