War Front to remain at $250,000 for 2020 breeding season

War Front will stand for an unchanged fee of $250,000 in 2020 at Claiborne Farm, presumably continuing his reign as the most expensive sire in North America.

The advertised stud fee for War Front, by Danzig, first climbed to $250,000 for the 2017 season and has remained there since. He is one of three Kentucky-based stallions who stood for a fee of $200,000 or more in 2019. Perennial leading sire Tapit stood for $225,000 in 2019 at Gainesway after previously standing for $300,000. His 2020 fee has not yet been announced. Medaglia d’Oro will stand for an unchanged fee of $200,000 in 2020 at Darley.

:: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales

War Front, the sire of Grade 1/Group 1 winners on both turf and dirt worldwide, and a perennial leader in the commercial auction arena, had not yet sired a Grade 1-winning male runner at a two-turn distance on dirt entering this racing season. He achieved that feat in April, when Omaha Beach won the Arkansas Derby, then his son War of Will captured the Preakness Stakes. War of Will is expected to start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, while Omaha Beach will also be seen at the Breeders’ Cup in a race yet to be determined.

War Front leads a 12-horse roster for the Hancock family’s historic Claiborne, which adds two new stallions for 2020 in dual-surface Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy and Grade 3 winner Demarchelier. A fee for Catholic Boy, who remains in training, is yet to be determined, while Demarchelier, the first son of Dubawi to stand in Kentucky, will stand for $5,000.

Claiborne's roster also includes Flatter at $40,000, Blame at $35,000, Mastery and Runhappy at $25,000, First Samurai at $15,000, Orb at $10,000, and Algorithms and Ironicus at $5,000 each. A fee for young sire Lea, in the top 20 on the freshman sire earnings list, is yet to be announced.