PEDIGREE INSIGHTS Pass=S Stamina, Because He Was Injured Before He Could B Y a N D R E W C a U L F I E L D Tackle a Distance Longer Than a Mile and an Eighth
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Andrew Caulfield, April 16, 2013-Java’s War In the end, we didn=t firmly establish the limits of War PEDIGREE INSIGHTS Pass=s stamina, because he was injured before he could B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D tackle a distance longer than a mile and an eighth. He failed by half a length to hold off Tale of Ekati after TOYOTA BLUE GRASS S.-GI, $750,000, KEE, 4-13, 3yo, 1 1/8m setting fast early fractions in the GI Wood Memorial on (AWT), 1:50 1/5, ft. his only attempt beyond 1 1/16 miles. The Derby was 1--@sJAVA'S WAR, 123, c, 3, by War Pass said to be still the plan, but two weeks later came an 1st Dam: Java (GB), by Rainbow Quest announcement that the champion 2-year-old had 2nd Dam: Island Jamboree, by Explodent suffered a sesamoid injury. 3rd Dam: Careless Virgin, by Wing Out My concerns about the colt=s stamina potential were O/B-Charles E Fipke (KY); T-Kenneth G McPeek; J-Julien R based on his parentage. In addition to being by Leparoux. $450,000. Lifetime Record: 7-3-1-1, $672,091. *1/2 to Cherokee Run, winner of the GI Breeders= Cup Sprint as Coffee Bar (Mineshaft), SP, $251,382. Werk Nick Rating: A++. a 4-year-old in 1994, he had a speedy dam by Mr. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Prospector. Sold in utero by LANE’S END I pointed out that Cherokee Run was no one- dimensional speedster, and didn=t have the pedigree of Broken & Trained by one. His sire Runaway Groom had won two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, both over 1 1/2 miles, before heading south to take the GI Travers S., so Cherokee Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the free Run was clearly worth trying around two turns. He brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO. justified the opportunity when beaten only half a length As Rydilluc started to fade entering the final eighth of in the GI Preakness S. and later won the GII Dwyer S. the Blue Grass S., it looked pretty certain that the over a mile and an eighth. Keeneland Grade I would fall to a son of one of the His connections must ultimately have come to the stallions which joined the Lane=s End Farm roster for conclusion that there were greater opportunities for him the 2009 season. Would it be Curlin, whose son Palace at up to a mile, rather than beyond it, as he never Malice was the first to pass Rydilluc, or would it be tackled more than a mile in nine starts as a 4-year-old. War Pass, whose son Java=s War was now in top gear He showed his appreciation by gaining Grade II and after still being last of the 14 with only three eighths Grade I victories over six furlongs. left to run? AWith a background like this,@ I wrote, AI should be I guess Lane=s End would have preferred it if Palace able to report that Cherokee Run has proved similarly Malice had held on, but he was caught on the line by versatile as a stallion, with a wide mix of winners to his Java=s War. After all, Curlin is still a credit, but his strong suit has proved to be speed--and member of the Lane=s End team, precocious speed at that. War Pass was his fifth whereas War Pass died at the end of challenger for Breeders= Cup honors and the previous four all contested either the Juvenile or the Juvenile 2010, soon after his return from a Fillies. He came closest to success with Chilukki, second Southern Hemisphere season runner-up to Cash Run in the 1999 Fillies, and Kafwain, in Australia. who chased home Vindication in 2002.@ Sod=s Law dictates that it has been So, if War Pass was going to sire live contenders for War Pass who has made by far the the Kentucky Derby, he was likely to need some help more impressive start to his stallion from his mares, and this is what has happened with career. Curlin, as a dual Horse of the Revolutionary and Java=s War. Java’s War Year, started out at $75,000, but has Keeneland/Coady Photo yet to be represented by his first graded stakes winner. War Pass, on JAVA’S WAR, c, 2010 the other hand, started out at a comparatively modest Runaway Groom Blushing Groom $30,000 after 2007=s champion juvenile had endured Cherokee Run Yonnie Girl an anti-climactic second season. However, War Pass Cherokee Dame Silver Saber has now sired winners of two of the significant GI War Pass Dame Francesca Kentucky Derby trials, the other, of course, being Mr. Prospector Raise a Native Revolutionary, winner of the GII Louisiana Derby. That Vue Gold Digger amounts to a considerable achievement, in view of the Harbor Flag Hoist the Flag fact that War Pass=s first crop numbered only 65 named Bayou Blue foals (with 61 live foals in his second, when his fee fell Blushing Groom Red God (Fr) to $20,000). Rainbow Quest Runaway Bride When I reviewed War Pass=s prospects following his Java (GB) I Will Follow Herbager victory in the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile, I was 7-2-1-2 Where You Lead dismissive of his chances of winning the Kentucky 7Fls, 1GSW, Island Jamboree Nearctic 1SP Explodent Derby--and not just because winners of the Juvenile 37-10-11-1, Venomous $327,270 Careless Virgin Wing Out have a notoriously bad record in the Derby. I simply 9Fls, 1Ch, 2GSW didn=t think he would stay well enough. 9Fls, 1SW, 1SP Carless Notion Revolutionary is out of Runup the Colors, an A.P. Indy mare who triumphed in the GI Alabama S. Java=s War, for his part, is out of a sister to Fiji, the champion turf female of 1998 whose victories included the GI Yellow Ribbon S. and Santa Barbara H. over a mile and a quarter. The way Java=s War finished at Keeneland, he too should have no trouble with the extra furlong at Churchill Downs, and the extra distance could help him finish much closer to Verrazano, his conqueror in the GII Tampa Bay Derby. It is also encouraging that Java=s War is a May 4 foal, so was still short of his actual third birthday when he triumphed in the Blue Grass. The potential drawback--apart from the poor record of past Blue Grass winners--is that he has yet to prove that he is at his most effective on dirt. His broodmare sire, the Arc-winning Rainbow Quest, has proved highly effective in this role, with his daughters producing two winners of the Epsom Derby, plus winners of the Oaks and 2,000 Guineas. Although Rainbow Quest=s progeny didn=t always have the best forelegs, they did well in the U.S., with the likes of Fiji, Quest For Fame, Raintrap, Rainbow Dancer and Urgent Request all winning at the highest level. Urgent Request, with his victory in the Santa Anita H., proved the exception to the rule that Rainbow Quest=s American winners were generally turf performers. Java=s War=s dam wasn=t in that class, but her relationship to Fiji was enough for her to sell for $350,000, while carrying her subsequent Blue Grass winner. Java has now beaten Fiji to the distinction of having produced a Grade I winner, though Fiji didn=t miss by much with her Danehill colt Marcus Andronicus, as he was beaten only half a length in the 2006 Poule d=Essai des Poulains. Java=s War is inbred to the brilliant French colt Blushing Groom--4x3 in his case--and he also has two lines of Raise a Native. Giant=s Causeway=s Grade I- winning sons Footstepsinthesand and Heatseeker are others inbred 4x3 to Blushing Groom, with Footstepsinthesand also having a dam by Rainbow Quest. .