Entering this year, War Front was already the most expensive stallion in North America, with graded/group stakes winners worldwide on both dirt and turf and massive success in the commercial arena. There was one frontier he had yet to cross, however, as he hadn’t yet sired a Grade 1-winning male around two turns on dirt. War Front answered that question earlier this year, as Omaha Beach won the Arkansas Derby to make himself the Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite before being scratched days before the race due to an entrapped epiglottis. War of Will, elevated to seventh in that Derby via disqualification with an adventurous trip, came back to win the Preakness Stakes, making War Front a classic sire. War Front stands, as his late leading sire Danzig did, at Claiborne Farm, where he commands a $250,000 fee this year. War Front was a Grade 2-winning sprinter on dirt, but has had international turf success with Group 1 winners including Air Force Blue, Declaration of War, Hit It A Bomb, Roly Poly, U S Navy Flag, and War Command. His Grade 1 winners on turf in the United States include Data Link, who now stands at Claiborne. Both Omaha Beach and War of Will began their careers on turf before eventually moving to dirt, getting back to War Front’s roots. “He started out as a dirt sire, that’s how he got his name out there,” Claiborne president Walker Hancock said this spring. “He had early horses like The Factor, Soldat, and Departing, who were all impressive on the dirt. It really wasn’t until he had two winners at Royal Ascot that he kind of became, I guess, more of a turf sire. But to have horses like War of Will and Omaha Beach on the Derby trail, it’s just proven to people again that War Front can also get a quality dirt horse.” According to Equineline statistics, War of Will was War Front’s 23rd Grade/Group 1 winner to date. He is the sire of 85 stakes winners overall from 10 crops of racing age, including current 2-year-olds. War of Will’s female line goes the distance While War of Will’s sire, War Front, was recording his first American classic winner in the Preakness Stakes, the colt is the latest representative of a female family that has strong classic ties – particularly in the Belmont Stakes, boding well as he eyes the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. War of Will is out of the stakes-winning Sadler’s Wells mare Visions of Clarity, a granddaughter of the notable broodmare Aviance. The latter, in turn, is a granddaughter of the great Best in Show, the root of an influential family tree that is likely to have multiple representatives in this Belmont. Best in Show, a daughter of Traffic Judge bred by Philip Conors, was foaled in 1965. She was campaigned by Norman S. Woolworth’s Clearview Stable, which purchased her as a broodmare. The chestnut filly went 5 for 27 on her career, highlighted by a victory in the Comely Stakes at Aqueduct, before retiring, first as a broodmare for Anne Forsythe and later Stonereath Farm, which privately purchased her. Before her death in 1990, she produced 17 foals, 12 of which started, and seven won. Those were led by Irish champion Malinowski, Kentucky Oaks winner Blush With Pride, group stakes winners Gielgud and Monroe, and stakes-placed Minnie Hauk and Star of Bagdad. But the true influence of the 1982 Broodmare of the Year was found through her daughters and granddaughters, as the family tree keeps growing and thriving decades later. The most well-known branch of the family is that started by Oaks winner Blush With Pride. Her Grade 2-winning daughter Better Than Honour is the dam of Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches and Jazil, Breeders’ Cup Marathon winner Man of Iron, Grade 2 winner Casino Drive, and the dam of Grade 1 winner Streaming. Blush With Pride also produced Group 2 winner Smolensk, a multiple stakes producer; and Group 1-placed Maryinsky, the dam of champion Peeping Fawn and Group 1 winner Thewayyouare. Minnie Hauk produced Group 1 winners Chief Contender and Aviance, the latter a prominent broodmare whom Stavros Niarchos privately purchased from Robert Sangster. Aviance went on to produce Grade 1 winner Denon, Group 1 winner Chimes of Freedom, and stakes winner Imperfect Circle. The latter produced Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Spinning World and stakes winner Visions of Clarity, the dam of War of Will. The mare also has produced Irish highweight and Group 1 winner Pathfork, the long-winded multiple stakes winner Tacticus, and, stakes-placed Market Outlook. Monroe was a private acquisition by Juddmonte Farm from Robert Sangster. The mare was the dam of European champion Xaar, Group 3 winners Diese and Masterclass, stakes winner Ile de Jinsky, Group 3-placed Esquire, and stakes-placed Didicoy and Silver Star. Her daughters Danthonia, Didicoy, Motion, Silver Star, Stardom, and Victoriana were all stakes producers. Silver Star is the granddam of Eclipse Award champion Close Hatches, whose first foal is Wood Memorial winner and Kentucky Derby official third-place finisher Tacitus. Tacitus is pointing to the Belmont Stakes, where he will meet War of Will again. Best in Show’s family tree also is responsible for champion and leading sire El Gran Senor, Group 1 winner and leading sire Redoute’s Choice, Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye, champions Aldebaran, Estrela Monarchos, Indiscretion, and Try My Best, Irish Derby winner Grey Swallow, Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Domedriver, and Grade/Group 1 winners Al Maher, Bahamian Pirate, Cityscape, Effinex, Fusaichi Pandora, Good Journey, He’s No Pie Eater, Hurricane Sky, Manhattan Rain, Platinum Scissors, Saddex, Senure, Umatilla, and Yagli.