By Alan Carasso
When asked where he thinks Gary Barber's War of Will (War Front) falls in the pecking order among this year's Classic crop, trainer Tom Amoss did not mince any words.
“I think he is not only the horse to beat on Saturday, he is the horse to beat the first Saturday of May if he continues the way he's going,” the well-respected conditioner told media assembled for an NTRA teleconference Tuesday afternoon.
Amoss will send out Roiland (Successful Appeal) in Saturday's $1-million GII Louisiana Derby, attempting to improve on his third-place effort in the GII Risen Star S. five weeks ago. But make no mistake–War of Will, who sits in pole position among the TDN Triple Crown Top 12, is the one they're all gunning for. For his part, trainer Mark Casse is happy to have to deal with the pressure.
“I think right now it's kind of our race to win or lose,” he said, referring to the Run for the Roses, now fewer than seven weeks away. “He's got to come and give a big performance again [Saturday], everybody is going to be watching him. I think if he were to win Saturday and do it impressively, it would be tough to not make him the favorite.
Casse continued, “I think I'm happy to be the one they have to beat. It means you've accomplished a lot. A lot of people say you don't want to be the favorite–I'll take being the favorite every time, because then you're supposed to have a better shot of winning. We've been down this road before, we can take it. Does it make me a little more nervous? Yeah, maybe a tad bit.”
As has been well documented, War of Will, a $175,000 Keeneland September yearling buyback turned €250,000 Arqana May Breeze-Up purchase, made the first four starts of his career on the grass, earning a Grade I placing in the Summer S. But since switching to the main track off a deceptively good fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, nothing has come close to him. After defeating the re-opposing Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) by four solid lengths in the GIII Lecomte S. in January, he overcame gate 13 to best 'TDN Rising Star' Country House (Lookin At Lucky) and Roiland (Successful Appeal) by 2 1/4 lengths in the GII Risen Star S. Feb. 16.
It's on to Churchill, all things equal, following the Louisiana Derby, but Casse is not bothered by the spacing of the race to the Kentucky Derby.
“Honestly, it's a little farther than I'd normally like, but that's the bad news,” he said. “The good news is this horse is so easy to train and he does whatever you want him to do, we can easily adapt. We haven't done a lot of big works with him between [the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby], average for him. You'll see us pick up the pace with him a little, we'll put a couple of stronger breezes into him. But I'm not worried, the six weeks isn't going to be a problem at all.”
And, despite having already secured his spot in the Derby field, there will be no 'four-corners' offense for Team Casse, neither is he lacking for confidence.
“We're going to ask him, we're going there to win,” Casse said. “It's a big race, it's a million dollars, he has a reputation to keep. We're not going in there thinking we're going to get beat, we're going to be trying just as hard as we can.
Tyler Gaffalione has the mount Saturday and Casse says there is no need for any agent representing 'bigger-name' riders to come calling.
“Gary's feeling and my feeling is that Tyler is as good as they are,” Casse said, referring to the likes of Hall of Famers John Velazquez and Javier Castellano. “I have not one bit of concern, there's never been any thought at all to make a change. He may be young, but he's got a mind of steel and I am not worried one iota that he will give us a great effort. He has the utmost confidence in the horse as well.”
Country House Has Mott in Uncharted Waters…
That the Bafferts, Browns and Pletchers of the training trade could send multiple runners into a race like the Kentucky Derby would surprise no one. But Bill Mott?
The Hall of Famer has started a total of eight horses in the first leg of the Triple Crown, and when Juddmonte Farms' Hofburg (Tapit)–Mott's first Derby runner in nine years–crossed the line seventh last May, it represented his best finish in the race. In the form of a pair of Juddmonte gallopers–'Rising Star' Hidden Scroll (Hard Spun) and recent GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero Tacitus (Tapit)–as well as Country House, he could have as many as three horses in the Derby field.
“I think we've been pleasantly surprised,” Mott said. “Since the first of the year, if you take Tacitus and Country House, they were big, tall rangy individuals, good-sized horses that took some time to come around. Horses that didn't really show a lot in the middle of last summer, they were still kind of getting it together. Neither one of those were horses that we would have even considered running at the Saratoga meet. We sort of had them identified as horses we would probably wait until September/October time and run them at Belmont and Aqueduct in the fall. That's the way it worked out for them. As they got closer to racing, they started showing a little bit more and showed us some good things in their first two races.”
Country House is perhaps the least likely to have emerged as a Derby candidate.
“He was very slow to come around, he really wasn't showing a lot,” Mott explained. “His works were like a half-mile in :50, very workmanlike kind of works, but nothing that really wowed you. We knew he needed to go further, so the first time we ran him, I put him on the turf to get the distance and to see a race on the grass and that didn't pan out very well. I wheeled him back on the dirt and he ran second and showed some run and a lot of promise in that second race.”
Country House belied odds of 49-1 to finish second in a one-mile Aqueduct maiden Dec. 1, then overcame a slow start, a sluggish pace and a wide passage around the second turn to graduate and earn his 'Rising Star' at Gulfstream Jan. 17. He exits a green second to War of Will in the Risen Star and most recently drilled a half-mile in the company of the G1 Dubai World Cup-bound Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in :49 3/5 at Payson Park Jan. 17.
“They're a very good team, they worked well together,” Mott said. “Country House tends to be a little bit of a lazy horse in his workouts. They breezed the week before together and I thought they went very well together. It seems like Yoshida was able to push Country House along a little bit and give him good company. One worked equally well as the other and I was very pleased. They finished up well together and galloped out well together.”
Luis Saez has a return call aboard Country House, who is drawn two spots to the outside of War of Will in gate eight Saturday afternoon.
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