Danzig line has an impact on Kentucky Derby after all

The late, great leading sire Danzig was expected to have an impact on this Kentucky Derby through his son War Front, the most expensive stallion in North America. But War Front ran into bad luck Kentucky Derby week, with morning-line favorite Omaha Beach scratched and War of Will encountering a troubled trip. But the versatile Danzig line still had its point of pride, as Danzig’s son War Chant is the broodmare sire of official victor Country House.

War Chant, out of champion Hollywood Wildcat, won the Grade 2 San Rafael and was second in the Santa Anita Derby before running ninth in the 2000 Kentucky Derby. He won the Breeders’ Cup Mile later that year before retiring to Three Chimneys Farm. War Chant shuttled to Chile and later to Australia, eventually settling in the Southern Hemisphere when Australia’s Yarradale Stud purchased him in 2014.

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War Chant’s best runners in a diverse career have included Eclipse Award champion steeplechase horse Pierrot Lunaire, 2010 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner and millionaire Chamberlain Bridge, 2011 Santa Anita Derby winner Midnight Interlude, Australian Group 1 winner Silent Sedition, Irish Group 1 winner Kingsfort, and Mexican Group 1 winner Vika.

War Chant’s winning daughter Quake Lake produced just four live foals prior to her death in 2016, shortly after the birth of Country House, who was raised with the help of a nurse mare. But her three foals to make it to the races are all stakes performers, with stakes winners Mr. Brix and Mitchell Road followed by Country House.

War Chant’s other top performers as a broodmare sire include Shalaa, a Group 1 winner in England and France as a juvenile.