The ranks of the New Zealand shuttle-sires have been further augmented with the news that last year’s G1 July Cup winner U S Navy Flag (USA) (War Front {USA}) will be heading from Coolmore in Ireland to Valachi Downs, near Matamata.
This announcement is hot on the heels that last year’s Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion (USA) (Kitten’s Joy {USA}) would be shuttling this season to Cambridge Stud.
This U S Navy Flag announcement could hardly be more topical not only with the War Front stallion Declaration Of War (USA) having just sired the G1 Queensland Oaks winner merely a week after the G3 Grand Prix S. at Doomben had been won by Fun Fact, a son of another War Front stallion, The Factor (USA); but also with War Front’s sky-high international status having received yet another boost last month with the victory of the G1 Preakness S. victory of his son War Of Will (USA).
U S Navy Flag
To most people outside the USA, War Front was not a household name as a racehorse. However, within America he garnered plenty of respect when thriving during a busy four-year-old campaign in 2006 when he featured in the quinella in six of the most competitive sprints in the country. He had been a stakes winner at three when taking the Princelet S. over 8.5 furlongs at Belmont Park, but at four the seed really burst into flower, racing over shorter distances.
The highlight of his year came when he landed the G2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. over six furlongs at Saratoga, although one could say that his win came too soon: because of the high standard of its recent winners, that race was promoted to Grade 1 status in 2010 and has remained at that level ever since. His other excellent efforts that year included second placings behind Pomeroy (USA) (Boundary {USA}) in the G1 Forego S. at Saratoga and behind Henny Hughes (USA) (Hennessy {USA}) in the G1 Vosburgh S. at Belmont.
Those performances, plus the fact that he was by Danzig from a family stuffed with stakes winners, were enough to see War Front retire to one of the best studs in the land, Claiborne.
A flying start to stud
War Front’s first-season stud fee in 2007 was $US12,500, and his meteoric rise to stardom can be gauged by its rapid ascent: up to $US60,000 in 2012, to $US80,000 in 2013, to $US150,000 in 2014, to $US200,000 in 2016. For the past three seasons he has stood for a quarter of a million dollars, twenty times the fee he commanded at the outset.
His tally of Group/Grade One winners has kept climbing. Four of his sons scored at the highest level in 2018, including not only the aforementioned U S Navy Flag, but also Homesman (USA) who became his sire’s 19th individual Group/Grade 1 hero by taking the G1 Underwood S. at Caulfield in September.
War Front’s tally of individual G1 winners advanced to 20 in April when Omaha Beach (USA) won the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, with subsequent G1 Kentucky Derby winner Country House (USA) (Lookin At Lucky) nearly seven lengths adrift in third. Last month War Front’s total of individual G1 winners increased to 21 when War Of Will (USA) gave the stallion his first win in a US Triple Crown race by taking the G1 Preakness S. at Pimlico.
War Front's brilliant son War of Will
Two weeks after War Of Will’s great victory, we were reminded of the potential of War Front as a sire of sires when Winning Ways took the G1 Queensland Oaks at Doomben.
She thus became the second Classic winner produced by Declaration Of War (himself winner of both the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot and the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York in 2013) following the victory of his first-crop son Olmedo (Fr) in the G1 Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains over 1600m in France last year.
Turf and dirt proficient
One could put War Front in the same category as More Than Ready (USA) as a dirt horse adept at siring top-class runners on both dirt and turf, and thus perfectly placed to be the international stud successes which they have turned out to be.
More Than Ready, of course, has a much higher profile within Australasia because of his years of high achievement as a shuttle-stallion at Vinery, whereas War Front has never shuttled.
But the latter has shown himself to be capable of producing horses suitable for different racing conditions around the world, with plentiful Group/Grade One triumphs on both sides of the Atlantic as well as top-level success in both Hong Kong and Australia. There is every reason to believe that the War Front horses who shuttle will make up for the fact that their father has remained in Kentucky throughout his career.
War Front
Good a racehorse though Declaration Of War was, it is fair to say that U S Navy Flag will be the most talented son of War Front to have shuttled. It was not merely that he won the G1 July Cup last year; as a two-year-old in 2017 he had become only the second horse in the modern era (following Diesis (GB) (Sharpen Up {USA}) in 1982) to complete the double of England’s most prestigious juvenile races, the G1 Middle Park S. and the G1 Dewhurst S.
He ranks as one of three triple Group One winners produced by War Front, alongside his full-sister to Roly Poly (USA) and Air Force Blue (USA), who also won the G1 Dewhurst S. (in 2015).
The precocious sire
War Front’s effectiveness at instilling precocity into his stock is highlighted by his feat of siring two Dewhurst winners within three years, not to mention his numerous other notable juvenile triumphs including the quinella in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket in 2016 when Brave Anna beat Roly Poly by a short head, the pair two lengths clear of the brilliant Lady Aurelia (USA) (Scat Daddy {USA}).
Air Force Blue, of course, shuttled to Coolmore in New South Wales during his first year at stud (2017) but is obviously yet to have any runners.
It is worth mentioning, incidentally, that U S Navy Flag should not be judged on his form in Australia last spring. Like many sons and daughters of War Front, he seemed well suited by fast ground, whereas he finished tailed off on his only start in Europe on a heavy track.
However, he came to Sydney to run in the Everest so ran in it, despite the heavens having opened and the track being rated a heavy 9. Understandably he made no show in the race, and it seems likely that the run flattened him as he did not show his best form on his two subsequent starts down in Melbourne.
Other access to War Front
Australasian breeders also have access to two other interesting sons of War Front: The Brothers War and War Decree.
The latter, who stood his first season at Inglewood Stud in New Zealand in 2018, was a very smart two-year-old for Aidan O’Brien in 2016 when he won two of his three races including the G2 Vintage S. at Goodwood, in which he beat subsequent G1 Dubai World Cup hero Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet).
He followed these wins up with further good performances at both three and four, including taking the G3 Diamond S. at Dundalk in Ireland in September 2017, after which O’Brien sent him on a world tour which included challenges for the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar, the G1 Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin and the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan.
The Brothers War, based at Kooringal Stud (NSW), was a stakes winner over 1200m in France as a three-year-old in 2013 when trained by Jean-Claude Rouget before completing his racing career in North America.
