War Front

One could hardly blame trainer Brendan Walsh for trying First World War (War Front) on the main track. After all, the colt had shown promise breaking his maiden on debut over the undulating Kentucky Downs turf course in September before finishing a narrow fourth in the GII Bourbon S. Oct. 8 behind a trio of horses who'd all seen stakes success on either the dirt or the Tapeta. He made a good show of himself by checking in second on both attempts--first to 'TDN Rising Star' Parchment Party (Constitution) and...

5th-Gulfstream, $72,000, Alw (NW1$X), Opt. Clm ($25,000), 1-31, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.88, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. DELAHAYE (f, 4, Medaglia d'Oro--Bella Carina, by War Front) sat a no-cover trip three and four wide on her debut over this course last February, but jockey Javier Castellano lost the crop with judgment day approaching and the filly went down to a narrow defeat behind the future MSP Love Appeals (Speightstown). Away for 8 1/2 months thereafter, the $550,000 Keeneland September yearling raced more prominently in an Aqueduct maiden and shot clear...

In our walk of life, nothing succeeds like succession. As with any other form of agriculture, a horse farm is not just a business but a legacy sometimes shaped by several generations of rain-or-shine toil and kitchen-table lore. The balance sheet may happen to be in the black, or in the red--but that's just a moment in time. How does one put a price on the decades of patient nurture that have gone into land and bloodlines? Yet there's never any guarantee about the next generation, whether in terms of...

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

10th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 4:34 p.m. ET. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has a pair of newly-minted 3-year-old fillies heading to the post for their debuts over the turf in the Sunday finale in Hallandale. First, EL MEGEETH (Constitution) makes her first start for Shadwell Stable. Bred by Three Chimneys, the $750,000 Keeneland September purchase is out of Amour d'Ete (Tiznow), who Borges Torrealba Holdings acquired as the third topper at the same sale back in 2013 for $1.75 million. Her most notable produce is GI Preakness...

'TDN Rising Star' Annapolis (War Front--My Miss Sophia, by Unbridled's Song), winner of the 2022 GI Coolmore Turf Mile S. in a stakes-record time of 1:33.29 at Keeneland, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., for the 2024 breeding season. A graded stakes winner at two and three in the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Annapolis earned over $1.5 million as a homebred for Bass Racing. Annapolis was produced by My Miss Sophia, winner of the GII Gazelle S....

1st-Aqueduct, $82,450, Msw, 12-17, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.09, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. RECONCILE (f, 2, War Front--Welcoming {MSP, $179,812}, by Tapit) debuted as a 8-1 shot here. The gray filly seized the lead up the backstretch and kept to the task around the far turn. Accelerating past the eighth pole, the homebred won professionally by 1 1/2 lengths over Bourbon Serengeti (Distorted Humor). A half-sister to GIII Comley S. heroine Raging Sea (Curlin), the winner's dam produced a yearling filly by War Front and foaled a colt by Munnings May...

1st-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 12:20 p.m. ET. Charles Matses homebred GATE SONG (Arrogate) makes her first start for trainer Ned Allard. Out of SW Shannanies Song, she counts as half-siblings GII Summertime Oaks runner-up Bellamentary (Bellamy Road), GII Swale S. hero Favorable Outcome (Flatter), Dubai Group 3 stakes winner Mouheeb (Flatter) and GIII Fantasy S. runner-up Beguine (Gun Runner). Also making her first start is Robert Evans homebred Reconcile (War Front) for trainer Linda Rice. The gray filly's dam is a half-sister to GIII Comely S. heroine Raging...

Having been represented by a pair of new graded stakes scorers on Breeders' Cup Saturday, Claiborne Farm's War Front picked up yet another when the impeccably bred Smokin' T ran out a good-looking winner of the $300,000 GIII River City S. beneath the Saturday night lights at Churchill Downs. The sometimes difficult-to-handle 4-year-old colt was outsprinted and settled in centerfield through the early exchanges, as Dominican Pioneer (Pioneerof the Nile) ensured that the nine-furlong event would be run at a genuine tempo. Stitched (Mizzen Mast), winner of the relocated GII...

ARCADIA, CA - The lightly raced Bass family homebred Seal Team (GB) (War Front) sliced his way through traffic at the top of the stretch and made his graded stakes debut a winning one in Saturday's GII Twilight Derby at Santa Anita. The 7-1 shot broke sharply and was a bit headstrong while racing in tight quarters heading into the clubhouse turn. He began to settle beneath Umberto Rispoli from there and raced on the inside in eighth through fractions of :23.56 and :47.18. Traveling well with a wall of...

1st-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 12:20p.m. ET The lone firster in the field, Team Spoor's CURLIN'S GIRL (Curlin) will open her tab in this maiden baby dash on the back of a string of bullet works. Starting Oct. 7, when she went five furlongs in 1:01.88, she flashed speed Oct. 14 going five panels in :59.44 (1/6); Oct. 23 in company with $475,000 KEESEP grad Shop Lifting (Into Mischief)--who ran second by a head on her debut at Saratoga to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies victress Just F Y...

The first to the races for her dam, Sandy Bottom gave her freshman sire Omaha Beach (by War Front) his second black-type stakes winner when she went gate to wire in the Anoakia at Santa Anita on Saturday afternoon. Notching a front-running win at first asking Sept. 10 at Del Mar, the 6-5 choice broke alertly from the rail, once again seized the lead and never looked back as she commanded the pole position through the checkered flag. "Today, it seemed like she caught a flier [leaving the gate]," said...