Bridging the Gap: American Treasures

This is the first installment of a new series where TDN International Editor Kelsey Riley examines intercontinental trends in the Thoroughbred business.

Gary Barber's War Of Will (War Front), who ran away with the GIII Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans last month, may represent a deviation from the norm in being a legitimate GI Kentucky Derby contender from a decidedly turf pedigree, but when it comes to European pinhooks sourced from Kentucky's yearling sales, he is just the latest in a long line of successes.

War Of Will's page is one that would stand out in any sale catalogue; by America's most expensive advertised stallion, he is out of the Niarchos Family's French listed winner Visions Of Clarity (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), who had already produced the G1 National S. winner Pathfork (Distorted Humor), now at stud in South Africa, and the listed-winning Tacticus (A.P. Indy). Visions Of Clarity is a half-sister to the brilliant miler Spinning World (Nureyev). Grade/Group 1 winners Chimes of Freedom, Aldebaran and Good Journey appear under the third dam.

Offered by Lane's End as agent for breeder Flaxman Holdings in Book 1 of Keeneland September in 2017, War Of Will was led out unsold at $175,000. That's when former jumps jockey and Irish-based breeze-up consignor Norman Williamson of Oak Tree Farm stepped in.

“I had seen the colt at the sale so when I noticed he was bought back I went to see him again,” Williamson said. “I thought he was too good to be unsold, and when I went back to see him I liked him. I had my vet check him over. I had bought a couple of horses from Maria Niarchos over the years, and I went to the Niarchoses' and we came to an agreement and I purchased him privately.”

War Of Will was then off to Oak Tree Farm in Co. Meath with a Declaration of War colt Williamson had purchased three days later for $80,000.

“We were delighted to have such a well-bred colt,” Williamson said. “He's a fine, big horse, and he was a bit tall so maybe he looked to some European people like he might need a bit of time, but he was straight into the swing of things here and we never had a problem with him. He was always very easy to deal with and a great-actioned horse with a fantastic temperament. We liked him all the way through.”

After a few months in the Oak Tree school of breeze ups, War Of Will and his Declaration of War buddy crossed the water once again and ended up at Arqana for that firm's May Breeze Up Sale. Justin Casse, who has had considerable success buying future racehorses out of European sales, signed for War Of Will at €250,000, while Blandford Bloodstock bought the Declaration of War colt for €60,000. Casse said that being a War Front, War Of Will was on his radar before he even touched down in France, and while the horse's breeze and physical more than matched expectations, he admitted he did not see the horse as a dirt prospect.

“His pedigree is phenomenal; it just flies off the page,” Casse said. “On top of that I have a client with a soft spot for War Front with Mr. Barber. One of the first horses we bought together was [Grade I-winning turf miler by War Front] Jack Milton, and since then we've had two other War Fronts that were graded stakes winners and listed stakes winners. I've had some success with the sire, so I had put special attention this horse based on that.

“When he breezed he put in a phenomenal breeze, he was just a beautiful mover. Its unofficial timing when you're at the European breeze ups, but his time was in the top five or seven. More importantly, he was a very efficient mover. He was a very imposing colt. To look at him you wouldn't necessarily think he was fast because of how big he is. He stands over a lot of ground especially for a War Front out of a Sadler's Wells mare. You wouldn't necessarily think he'd have a lot of size and scope to him, but he did, and he had the speed to go with it.”

Turned over to Casse's brother, trainer Mark Casse, War Of Will showed promise in four starts on the turf last summer and fall, even picking up a Grade I-placing in Woodbine's GI Summer S. behind Fog Of War, another son of War Front. But it was when he switched to the dirt after a fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf that he came to life.

He broke his maiden by five lengths going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 24, and won the Lecomte on Jan. 19 over the same distance by four lengths.

Casse said his brother and Barber had been tempted by last October to try the horse on the dirt after he worked well over it, but rather than throwing him into the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile they gave him one more shot on the grass first.

“I honestly could have never imagined he'd be a dirt horse,” Casse said. “I just thought all along the whole thing screamed turf, but now of course there's been so many people dissecting his pedigree and pulling the dirt parts out.”

Those dirt parts include War Of Will's half-brother Tacticus who, after nine starts on the turf and all-weather in Britain, transferred to the U.S. and won a pair of listed races over 1 3/4 miles and 1 5/8 miles. Those performances are in sharp contrast to those of their half-brother Pathfork, the unbeaten winner of the seven-furlong G1 National S. in Ireland at two who failed to train on in one start each at three and four. Though he was transferred to California to trainer John Sadler at four, he was never tried on the dirt. Another member of the family to have defied a turf-heavy heritage is Aldebaran, the American champion dirt sprinter who, in yet another twist of irony with this family, is now best known as the sire of American champion turf horse Main Sequence, who won four Grade Is over a mile and a half in 2014.

Williamson admitted he doesn't know a lot about dirt form, but he did reveal that during his time at Oak Tree Farm, War Of Will trained willingly over every surface he was presented with.

“While he was here he'd get through soft ground, and he was better on quicker ground, but he showed a lot of ability over everything we breezed him on,” he said. “Even though he was a very good-actioned horse, I think ability gets you through a lot.”

So, to summarize, while there were tiny clues that look much bigger in hindsight, all involved parties say they had little to no premonition that War Of Will would materialize into a fine dirt animal.

The element of this story that is much less surprising is that Williamson was able to pluck War Of Will from Keeneland and pinhook him in France with success. It has become increasingly popular to see European agents combing the Kentucky sales and taking home youngsters even by sires that wouldn't have obvious European appeal. At the same Arqana May sale that War Of Will went through, American sires were plentiful among the top sellers. Even aside from the stratospheric Scat Daddy, who had three of the top 10 sellers from his final crop, other successful pinhooks by American sires in the sale included a More Than Ready colt bought by Brendan Holland of Grove Stud for $160,000 at Keeneland September and sold on for €525,000; a $235,000 Exchange Rate filly sold by Willie Browne's Mocklershill for €400,000; and a $77,000 Arch filly sold by Powerstown Stud for €270,000. A colt by Data Link, a son of War Front, who is a three-quarter brother to War Front's dirt Grade I winner The Factor, was a $70,000 buyback at Keeneland but also ended up in the hands of Willie Browne and sold for €180,000 at Arqana. The previous month, seven of the top 10 at the Tattersalls Craven Sale were American-bred pinhooks. The top three, again, were by Scat Daddy, but others included a 575,000gns Street Sense colt (now named Bye Bye Hong Kong and group-placed) that was bought privately by Jim McCartan of Gaybrook Lodge at Keeneland September after RNA'ing for $70,000; a More Than Ready filly who RNA'd at Keeneland for $45,000 before being bought privately by Katie Walsh of Greenhills Farm and sold at Tattersalls for 500,000gns and a colt by Animal Kingdom bought by Tally-Ho Stud for $200,000 at Keeneland and sold by that group for 420,000gns to American owner Kaleem Shah. Stormy Atlantic has always done well enough in Europe, and he had a $72,000 colt turn to 240,000gns for Brendan Holland.

One of the pinhooks of the century took place at Arqana in May of 2017 when Willie Browne and Jim McCartan's Street Sense colt bought at Keeneland for $15,000 was purchased by Phoenix Thoroughbreds for €1.4 million. That colt, now named Walk In The Sun, is an example of what sticking around for the later books can get a pinhooker: he was sold on day seven of Keeneland. Trainer Robert Cowell, similarly, stuck around until day nine in 2017 to pick up a Dialed In colt for $35,000, and he very nearly pulled off a fairytale story when the colt, named Pocket Dynamo, was second by a nose in last year's G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.

Although he was not a pinhook, the poster-child for U.S.-bred success in Europe last year was Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy). Like War Of Will, Roaring Lion went through the ring on opening day during Book 1 of Keeneland September-incidentally, about three hours after last year's American Horse of the Year Justify went through–and was bought by David Redvers for $160,000. Redvers has been quoted describing Roaring Lion as the best-looking and best-moving son of Kitten's Joy he'd ever seen, so surely at $160,000 he slipped through the cracks? Well, it's possible that his combined dirt and turf pedigree could have confounded some, and with so much choice among the almost 4,500 catalogued at Keeneland September alone, they had plenty of opportunity to look elsewhere. Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Farm, which raised and sold Roaring Lion, told the TDN in July, “Year after year, it's such a unique thing with the volume of quality that's there. It gives buyers a chance to find a world-class horse at a reasonable price. If you work the sale and you know what you're looking for-and you've got to find your spot-there's nothing like Keeneland September for buyers across the world and in America.”

Williamson concurred that the chance to unearth a War Of Will, or a Roaring Lion, makes shopping astutely at Keeneland September worthwhile.

“It can happen with the numbers in Keeneland, and I think this is a typical example that you can maybe afford a colt with a pedigree like him, and then he's eligible for a worldwide market,” he said. “War Of Will ended up in France and then he ended up back in America again all in the space of a few months. It shows you what can happen in the world we're living in. That's what you're hoping for, is a horse with a good pedigree that maybe doesn't tick everyone's box, but he did for us.”