NEWS
Champion War Pass retired
Posted: Friday, September 05, 2008 4:16 PM
WAR PASS WINNING THE 2007 BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE (G1)
Photo by Z/Matt Barton
by Steve Bailey
Champion two-year-old colt War Pass was retired on Friday and will stand at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, in 2009.
The three-year-old Cherokee Run colt out of the stakes-placed winning Mr. Prospector mare Vue had been sidelined since April with a fractured sesamoid in his left front ankle. On the advice of veterinarians, it was decided that he should be retired from racing, Farish said.
“It was just one of those injuries that never healed the way it was supposed to,” he said. “It healed enough that he should have a happy and sound breeding life. There just could have been too many complications if we had decided to put him back in training.”
War Pass was unbeaten at age two for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, winning his four starts by a combined 14½ lengths. He capped his juvenile season with impressive victories in the 2007 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park and the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Monmouth Park en route to the Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old colt.
War Pass opened his three-year-old campaign with a commanding 7½-length victory in an allowance race on February 24 at Gulfstream Park prior to a head-scratching last-place finish in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) on March 15.
He rebounded with a second-place finish, only a half-length behind Tale of Ekati, in the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on April 5, but never made it to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) because of the injury.
“I think people will remember him as a horse with brilliant speed,” Farish said. “I think he proved in the Wood that the race in Florida was just a throwaway race. It may have even been when he first injured the sesamoid.
“It’s a shame that Nick never got to get him into one of the classic races. I think his race in the Wood made a lot of people think he was getting right back on track.”
War Pass won five of seven starts and earned $1,583,400 for owner Robert LaPenta and Farish, who purchased a majority interest in the colt late last year.
“War Pass is without a doubt the fastest two-year-old I’ve ever had,” Zito said following the Juvenile. “He has tremendous speed and is extremely talented. “I’ve been on the track since I was a teenager and, in my opinion, War Pass has everything: speed, class, and quality.”
Farish said that Zito himself will bring War Pass to the farm on Saturday and that he will stand as the property of a syndicate. A stud fee will be announced shortly, he said.
“We are very excited to have War Pass entering stud next year,” Farish said. “His exceptional conformation and his ability to extend his speed makes him an excellent sire prospect. He will make a great addition to the Lane’s End stallion roster.”
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
