War Front’s son US Navy Flag bound for The Everest
This tough three-year-old colt looks an ideal selection to represent Coolmore in the $13 million event and a win at Randwick would further enhance his already considerable appeal as a future shuttle sire although the race is yet to be given the Group 1 status it richly deserves.
On Saturday in Britain, US Navy Flag defeated a strong field of mainly older sprinters and
followed earlier O’Brien-trained three-year-olds to win the July Cup in Stravinsky (Nureyev) and the short-lived Mozart (Danehill) who both, like US Navy Flag, switched back to six furlongs after failures in top company at a mile.
US Navy Flag’s performance was impressive as he pulled clear to defeat high-class six-year-old gelding Brando (Pivotal) by a length and three quarters with long-priced stablemate Fleet Review (War Front) a further three quarters of a length away in third place. Godolphin’s Blue Point (Shamardal) and Redkirk Warrior (Notnowcato) were among the unplaced brigade.
The July Cup was the 16th start for US Navy Flag in two unusually busy seasons, giving him his fifth victory and third Group 1, the first two recorded as a juvenile in the Middle Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) and the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f), displays which saw him crowned Europe’s champion juvenile colt last year.
Earlier this season US Navy Flag had been a close runner-up in the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) but was unplaced in both the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (Gr 1, 1600m) and the St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Royal Ascot before the wise decision was made to bring the colt back in distance for the July Cup.
US Navy Flag’s pedigree on either side leaves little to be desired. He is one of 17 Group/Grade 1 winners among 72 stakes winners to date for his father War Front (Danzig), one of the world’s leading living sires, who stands at historic Claiborne Farm in Kentucky at a 2018 fee of US$250,000.
War Front followed his highly influential sire Danzig (Northern Dancer) when retired to
Claiborne as a Grade 2 winner at six furlongs in the United States whereas his unbeaten father, sire of 198 black-type winners, failed to win a black-type race in his three starts in a career cut short by knee problems.
Danzig has been a phenomenal sire of sires although War Front can not yet be compared to his greatest stallion son Danehill (347 stakes winners) but must now rank high among the others headed by Green Desert, Chief’s Crown, Anabaa and Langfuhr.
Very similar in type to his sire, War Front is represented this season in Australia and New Zealand by such sire sons as Coolmore’s Air Force Blue, a champion two-year-old, The Brothers War (Kooringal Stud, NSW), New Zealand debutant War Decree (Inglewood Stud) and Sweet Orange who has returned to New Zealand after spending a season in Queensland.
Some years ago Coolmore identified War Front as a suitable mate for many of their top-class
mares needing an injection of speed, especially daughters of Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer) and his sons Galileo and Montjeu. Extensive use of the Kentucky-based War Front has rewarded Coolmore with a number of major winners apart from US Navy Flag, including Declaration Of War, Air Force Blue, War Command, Lancaster Bomber and US Navy Flag’s sister, three-time Group 1 winner Roly Poly.
Misty For Me (Galileo), dam of US Navy Flag and Roly Poly, has also produced stakes winner Cover Song (Fastnet Rock) after a stellar career on the track.
An outstanding two-year-old, Misty For Me at that age won the Moyglare Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) in Ireland and the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1600m) in France before going on at three years to capture the Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) and the Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr 1, 1m2f).
Misty For Me is a sister to Group 1 winner Ballydoyle and to stakes winner Twirl while her unraced dam Butterfly Cove (Storm Cat) is a sister to stakes winner Kamarinskaya (Storm Cat) and a half-sister to former Coolmore shuttle sire Fasliyev (Nureyev), champion European two-year-old of his generation.
This is a distinguished American family with US Navy Flag’s fourth dam, stakes winner Anne
Campbell (Never Bend), remembered for producing Grade 1-winning sires Menifee (Harlan) and Desert Wine (Damascus) so US Navy Flag has a solid female foundation behind him to become a successful stallion in the future.
With four lines of Northern Dancer (Nearctic) and three lines of Mr Prospector (Raise A Native) in his background US Navy Flag has a powerful pedigree giving him some seven strains of champion Native Dancer (Polynesian) while South American champion Forli (Aristophanes) is also duplicated.