Champ takes first step on 'war' path

Pat,

I agree. Without elaborating too much and going too far off topic, I will say that I am personally 100% pro-dirt.

I appreciate the good intentions that brought about the synthetic track movement, however most of them have not solved the issue of providing a healthy performing ground for horses. Further, the way races are being portrayed on these synthetic courses is a major, major concern.

I've seen more unlikely outcomes over these surfaces in the last couple of years than I've seen in 10 years of watching racing on turf and convention dirt.

Well, War Pass could technically come back in the Wood after the Tampa Bay Derby but he won't. Off Sunday's race, War Parr will have 3 weeks before the Tampa Bay Derby, which is a tad short but its a short van ride for him to Tampa and he'll likely barely break a sweat in this weekend's allowance race - so I don't mind the quick turn around.

But going from the Tampa Bay Derby to the Wood Memorial three weeks later is a totally different story... I think this very move really cost Any Given Saturday last year, as he had a very tough race against Street Sense in the warm climate of Tampa Bay before shipping up to a cooler climate in New York and running in the Grade 1 Wood against a solid group off that tough race on just three weeks rest. We'll never know how much that hurt that colt's Derby chances - bruised foot aside.

I would guess Zito take the Street Sense path and points him for the Blue Grass after the Tampa Bay Derby because it progressively stretches him out to get the speedy colt ready for the 1 1/4-mile Derby. It is also likely seen as a 'safe' spot to run War Pass over the Polytrack since War Pass has had some well documented physical issues in the past.

As for the comparison to War Emblem, I see the name as the biggest comparison right now. I say that because I think War Pass is a better horse but perhaps different than War Emblem in that War Emblem was bred to go long and had good front-end speed around two turns - but could not sprint. War Pass is bred to be more of a sprinter/miler and has been brilliant at both. But I'm still not convinced how far he'll go... War Emblem excelled at the classic distances.

Unlike the great precociousness War Pass disaplayed in 2007, War Emblem was not much as a 2-year-old and even early at three. As a matter of fact, he was pretty ordinary as an early 3-year-old at Fair Grounds. He blossomed later when he left Fair Grounds and improved when the distances really stretched out....

Will War Pass improve/excel in the same manner? That's the $100 million question.

Mike,

I agree there should be legitimate concerns about him getting classic distances.

I remember his half-sister Vision of Beauty a couple of years back. She was a filly I liked that John Ward trained by Danzig, who will get you a horse that runs a lot further than Cherokee Run will nine out of 10 times. Vision of Beauty was a good filly when right but was a sprinter. Further, his other quality half-sister, Oath, was also very fast and precocious like War Pass. She is a daughter of Known Fact and was 2-for-2 as a juvenile with a win in the Grade 1 Spinaway. She proved to be fragile and failed to run on at three before retiring.

It's very easy to be concerned about War Pass's ability to handle a lot of ground.