Kentucky stallions: Strategy pays off for War Front

As War Front’s stallion career has developed, his handlers have prioritized quality over quantity – and the market has responded.

Claiborne Farm has, historically, been relatively selective with its stallions’ books, keeping them to modest sizes by today’s standards. War Front covered 82 mares in 2018, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. The average book size for a Claiborne stallion was 81 mares, and only five of the farm’s 12 stallions covered triple-digit books. Meanwhile, in order to break into the top 25 busiest stallions in North America, a stallion’s book size would have had to be 154 or higher.

But as War Front has succeeded, both on the track internationally and in the commercial arena, these supply-and-demand dynamics have helped his stud fee skyrocket. War Front enters 2019 with an unchanged stud fee of $250,000, which leaves him reigning as the most expensive stallion on this continent. Tapit stood for $300,000 at Gainesway from 2015 to 2018, and had his fee cut to $225,000 for 2019. Medaglia d’Oro’s fee dropped from $250,000 in 2018 to $200,000 this year.

War Front was led in 2018 by Canadian Grade 1 winner Fog of War, English Group 1 winner U S Navy Flag, Irish Group 1 winner Lancaster Bomber, and Australian Group 1 winner Homesman. In total, he was represented by 19 black-type stakes winners. A remarkable 17 percent of his starters recorded a benchmark Beyer Speed Figure of 90 or higher.

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