War of Will firing bullets in morning workouts

LOUISVILLE, K.y. – Mark Casse had always intended to step up the intensity of War of Will’s training between the Louisiana Derby, his final prep on March 23, and the Kentucky Derby 42 days later. But after what transpired in the Louisiana Derby, War of Will’s subsequent training took on even greater importance.

The Lecomte and Risen Star winner, War of Will lost his action shortly after the start of the race and never got involved, finishing ninth. Casse theorized that the colt caught his patella at the start.

After extensive precautionary diagnostics pronounced the colt problem-free, War of Will resumed training at Keeneland.

“We trained him even harder because we felt like he didn’t get as much out of the Louisiana Derby,” Casse said.

“I’m not so sure we didn’t let him get a little chubby going into the Louisiana Derby. He had picked up a few pounds.”

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War of Will returned to the work tab April 6, breezing a half-mile in 48.80 seconds. Casse and assistant trainer David Carroll, who oversaw the colt all winter at Fair Grounds and at Keeneland this spring, devised something more strenuous for the following weekend to move him forward from a fitness perspective. War of Will worked from the gate on April 13, an unusual move for Casse, and fired off five furlongs in 59.00 seconds, the fastest of 44 works at the distance that morning.

“Sometimes . . . horses get more from a gate work,” Casse said.

War of Will was put in company for his next two works to keep him honest, and he didn’t back off. He went five furlongs in 1:00.20 on a muddy, sealed track April 19 at Keeneland, finishing clear at the wire of winning stablemate Battle of Memphis. That was again the bullet work of the day.

Starinthemaking, whose most recent win came in a claiming race, was War of Will’s most recent workmate last Saturday. In a move designed as a confidence builder, War of Will unsurprisingly inhaled his workmate en route to a sharp half-mile in 47.36 seconds – the fastest of 79 at the distance.

With those works behind him, War of Will is “at fighting weight,” Casse said.

Tyler Gaffalione, who has the call for the Derby, began working War of Will before his maiden victory last November and thus has the context to know when the colt is at his best. He was grinning after the three recent bullets.

“Around the turn, I just kept him behind, and when we tipped out into the stretch, I let him come off cover, and he just took me,” Gaffalione said after last Saturday’s work. “He’s full of himself and really acting like himself.”

War of Will, owned by Gary Barber, must overcome a historical trend to win the Derby. Only two horses have won the Derby after a layoff as long as his – Needles in 1956 and Animal Kingdom in 2011.