War of Will finds himself the last one standing from Derby

ELMONT, N.Y. – There were 19 horses who raced in the Kentucky Derby, only four of whom came back in the Preakness, only one of whom will run in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday here at Belmont Park. War of Will is the outlier among this crop of 3-year-olds, a horse who will run in all three legs of the Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown has been swept twice this decade, by American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify last year. But a horse like War of Will – who will run in the Belmont even without a Triple Crown bid at stake – is a rare commodity these days. Since four such horses ran in 2001, only twice – in 2013 and 2011– have as many as three horses run in any Belmont without the compelling aspect of going for the Triple Crown. There was one last year, one in 2017, two in 2016, and none in 2015.

That War of Will is here is a testament to both the colt’s ability and the approach of his trainer, Mark Casse.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but to me, there’s only one Belmont, and if we have a shot – and our horse is happy and he’s healthy – we’re gonna do our very best to win it,” Casse said on a recent teleconference. “That’s what the Belmont means to me.”

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War of Will arrived here early Monday morning following an overnight van ride from Keeneland, where he had been based since his victory in the Preakness. That win followed a Derby in which War of Will was involved in the bumping on the far turn that led to the controversial disqualification of Maximum Security. War of Will crossed the wire eighth, then was promoted to seventh after the DQ.

Casse said War of Will being the last one standing “says a lot” about the colt.

“I think the Derby was extremely hard on a lot of horses. The track surface, with the rain and everything, was tough on them,” Casse said. “There seem to be fewer and fewer horses making all three races.

“It speaks volumes for him. He comes to play. He’s tough. He’s got knocked around, he runs hard, but he’s still there to play again.”

Point Given in 2001 and Afleet Alex in 2005 are the last two horses to have lost the Derby, then won the Preakness and the Belmont, a feat War of Will will try to emulate. Four others since 2001 – Curlin in 2007, Shackleford in 2011, Oxbow in 2013, and Exaggerator in 2016 – lost the Derby, won the Preakness, then lost the Belmont.

The trainer who has participated the most in the Belmont without a Triple Crown on the line the past two decades is D. Wayne Lukas, who ran Proud Citizen (2002), Flying Private (2009), Optimizer (2012), both Oxbow and Will Take Charge (2013), and Bravazo (2018) in all three legs since Lukas’s failed Triple Crown bid with Charismatic 20 years ago.

By contrast, Todd Pletcher – who apprenticed under Lukas and has won the Belmont three times since going out on his own – only once, with Impeachment in 2000, has run a horse in all three legs. More often, like this year with Intrepid Heart and Spinoff, he runs horses who skipped the first two legs, or ran in the Derby and then bypassed the Preakness to point to the Belmont.

“It can be difficult to run a horse three times in five weeks under any circumstance,” Pletcher said at his Belmont barn Monday morning. “Three races at three tracks at demanding distances against the best of the generation makes it more difficult.”

For a horse who runs in all three legs, the demands of the Triple Crown show up this week. Some, notably Point Given, seem to blossom as the series unfolds, while others, such as Big Brown, who was bidding for a Triple Crown in 2008, wither from the effects of the grind.

The biggest challenge can simply be keeping enough weight on a horse. War of Will, for instance, has had an easy schedule since the Preakness. He will not have a workout in an attempt to keep him fresh for a race that means a lot to Casse.

“I’ve been following racing now – I’m 58 years old – for 50 years,” he said. “When I started following racing, there was no Breeders’ Cup, there was no Pegasus. There weren’t a lot of these things now. There was the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont, the three greatest races of all-time in North American history. And that hasn’t changed.”