by Mike Curry

Despite an extremely limited number of foals, dual classic winner and 2002 champion three-year-old male War Emblem became the sire of a classic winner on October 19 when Black Emblem won the Shuka Sho by a half-length at Kyoto Racecourse.

The Shuka Sho is the third leg of the Japanese Triple Tiara for three-year-old fillies, and Black Emblem’s victory could be just the beginning for War Emblem, a reluctant breeder who began covering mares again this spring for the first time since 2005.

The Yoshida family purchased War Emblem from The Thoroughbred Corp. for $17-million in fall 2002 and sent him to Shadai Stallion Station on the island of Hokkaido for the ’03 breeding season. War Emblem was a reluctant breeder from the start and produced only four foals in his first crop. There were 33 foals in War Emblem’s second crop, one of which was Black Emblem, and five foals in his third crop.

Sue McDonnell, PhD., a specialist in stallion behavior and breeding management at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, traveled to Shadai Stallion Station in the spring to begin working with War Emblem, who has 16 winners and three stakes winners from 31 starters according to stastics provided by The Jockey Club. McDonnell said she believes War Emblem did not cover any mares in ’06 or ’07.

“I think he has 19 pregnancies from the spring, and he’s breeding some on Southern Hemisphere time,” McDonnell said on Tuesday. “The third week he was breeding this year, he bred three mares a day for seven days straight because they were available. The thing is, when he got going toward the end of the season, there weren’t many mares left to go to him, and [Shadai was] scrambling for mares.”

War Emblem won the 2002 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), but his Triple Crown bid ended when he stumbled out of the gate at the start of the Belmont Stakes (G1) and finished eighth. McDonnell said the farm became enthusiastic about trying to spark War Emblem’s breeding interest because of the early success of his runners. McDonnell explained the treatment War Emblem received in a press release in June.

"He has had fertile sperm, but for several years has remained selective about which mares he would cover," McDonnell said in the release. "His therapy program, which commenced in early spring, consists of a combination of changes in housing and management to naturally build maturity and breeding confidence, changes in breeding shed handling techniques to maximize response, and carefully managed hormone supplementation as needed to boost libido to reduce his mare choosiness while his confidence builds."

McDonnell said on Tuesday she expects War Emblem to begin breeding regularly in February at Shadai. Based on the results of the treatment this spring, McDonnell said she is cautiously optimistic that War Emblem can begin a normal career at stud.

“I wouldn’t put any more limitations on him than I would any novice stallion that starts out slow and starts to perk up and build confidence,” McDonnell said. “We expect that he can start breeding within the range of a normal stallion, beginning in February. …He may always be kind of a special-needs stallion in that he needs expert handling. His problem was that he was extraordinarily picky about mares, only liked a few out of hundreds. Now he is breeding every mare. He is not equally enthusiastic about all of the mares, but he’s breeding most of the mares that have been presented.

“The farm has a good attitude that they are going to take it a step at a time, too. He’s such a nice horse. His whole personality has changed; he wasn’t happy before.”

Black Emblem entered the classic race off a 15th-place finish on yielding turf in the Kansai TV Telecasting Corporation Sho Rose Stakes, a prep race for the Shuka Sho. Winning jockey Yasunari Iwata said Black Emblem was able to accelerate on the firm ground in the Shuka Sho.

''Unlike in the Rose Stakes when the turf was yielding due to the rain, we were blessed with fine weather and very firm going today,” Iwata said. “I hoped she would be a different horse under this condition, and she showed her explosive move and excellent turn of foot.”

Black Emblem, out of the winning Hector Protector mare Vin de Noir, improved to four wins in nine starts and boosted her earnings to $1,614,700.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor