Declaration Of War to nail Coolmore's colours to the mast at Santa Anita (Official backers thread)

off your head..........coolmore are desperate to win this race as a turf and dirt champion is a stallion goldmine but this wont win.
they have thrown plenty of darts at this race, most had no chance as they didnt have dirt pedigrees.
to win this race you need to be a real grinder. DOW is not a grinder. he quickens well etc but he wont get 1m 2f on dirt. NO CHANCE.
giants causeway came close for them but he was a real tough nut.

The US scene is as bad, if not worse than, the UK scene. Of the first two in the betting the favourite Game on Dude has won his last 5 races and none of the horses that finished 2nd to him have won a Group 1 between them. The 2nd favourite is Mucho Macho Man and he has just won his first Group 1 in 20+ starts. 

I did fancy DOW to cause a bit of an upset and if the price is a lot better on the day I may have a punt but a defeat of Al Kazeem at York on ground unsuitable for the favourite and the 2nd favourite not running his race even that form may be completely unreliable. Before that a defeat of Mukhadram really should fall short. But the Yanks are no great shakes either.

i dont think the 1m 2f on dirt is game on dudes best situation...........if it was polytrack he would win easily.

D.O.War
As a 2 Year old
On his debut; Hacked up by 3L, 16 Runners, Prix des Espoirs (Maiden) (All-Weather)(2yo) (1m110y) 1m½f Standard
Next time out; Hacked up by 8L, 13 Runners, Prix Habitat (Conditions) (2yo Colts & Geldings) (Fibresand)(7f110y) 7½f Standard

As a 3 year old; Won by 1/2L, 12 Runners, Diamond Stakes (Group 3) (All-Weather)(3yo+) (1m2f150y) 1m2½f Standard

Turf Wins; Good-Firm,Good,Soft,and Heavy.

His last race at York was his 7th of the season,when I looked at him in the pre parade paddock,he looked so well you would think it was his seasonal debut,he is a real hard case and a good do`er.

Before his York Win/Race he was Btn less than 2L in Deauville (FR),over an unsuitable 8F by;Moonlight Cloud, Olympic Glory and Intello.
Now what have they gone on to win/do ???.

What you have to ask yourself Sid is 'does DOW's proximity to the others you mentioned in Deauville improve his standing or reduce the standing of the others?' It can go both ways you know.

What you have to ask yourself Brigust is;are these some of the Best in Europe?.
The French Derby winner Intello,went on to win a group race and was then Btn 5 1/4L in the Arc,
Olympic Glory is a 5 times Group winner,
Moonlight Cloud is a 9 times Group winner,includes beating Farhh this year and being Btn 6 1/4L in last years Breeders cup mile-unable to get into the race.

D.O.War`s sire Rahy;
Bred the good Dirt track mare Serena’s Song;
(foaled 1992) is an American Thoroughbred race horse.
She won 17 graded stakes races, including 11 Grade I (some against males and older mares), in three seasons for $3,286,388 in earnings.

A fatal flaw Sid. Of course they are among the best in Europe but every year something has to win these races. It is not winning the races it is the quality of the races won.

The French Derby was only a Gr3 race at best with the other runners, including the winner only winning a couple of Group 3's between them all since.
The English Derby was the same with the whole field winning virtually nothing since.

So given how Ruler of the World has run since and given his proximity to Farhh and CDA what does that tell you?

Olympic Glory is obviously decent but he needs soft ground and now blinkers.

Declaration of war is definitely bred to be able to race on the dirt, but having never run on it we won't know how he will handle the surface or kickback. His sire War Front's greatest influence is the toughness he gives his offspring. DOW will need this to grind out a result here because the pace looks strong from the gate.
I'm not taken by the form of him personally and not only will he have to handle the dirt I think he will have to improve for it to win this race.

the surface at Santa Anita seems to suit European turf horses, or have they changed it?

Dec.O.W. Galloped on Southwell Fibresand,
He also galloped on Dirt when trained by the All Coquering-Todd Pletcher early 2013.

AIDAN O'BRIEN yesterday revealed the spectacular outcome of the secret gallop he put Declaration Of War through as he prepared the colt for the biggest assignment of his career Saturday when he will attempt to end Ballydoyle's so far fruitless quest for a Breeders' Cup Classic victory.

After watching his five Breeders' Cup contenders stretch their legs on the Santa Anita track for the first time O'Brien said that Declaration Of War's work on Southwell's Fibresand had been more impressive than Giant's Causeway when he had a similar exercise before being touched off by Tiznow in 2000.

Convinced the Juddmonte International and Queen Anne Stakes winner represents his best chance yet of breaking a 12-runner losing streak in the $5 million race, he flew the horse to Nottinghamshire two weeks ago for a mile gallop designed to replicate the alien terrain that has regularly confounded nearly all his Classic dirt challengers.

"He followed two Group 1 winners over a mile out of stalls and he sat in behind the two of them," said O'Brien on Thursday. "He quickened up very well in the straight and won his work a long way. I don't know how far.
When we brought Giant's Causeway to Southwell he came up with a lead horse but came up the straight with him and didn't pull away. This horse pulled away but I don't know what that means.

"He did get kickback and we would have probably preferred more but he came out and travelled so strong Joseph couldn't get him back into it.
He was on the heels of the two horses in front of him rather than a little bit back off but that's what he does in all his races. It looked very impressive visually, but how many of us have seen work being very impressive?"

I think that the connections were not sure that D.O.W. would stay the distance, despite having won over further on at least 2 occasions,
if they had taken stamina on trust then the horse would have been right on the pace but to the outside, J O'B still has a lot to learn.
They were racing for £1.687 million, yet they never trusted the horse to deliver, it defeats the object of entering horses for races of such huge importance
if every eventuality is catered for, without fear of losing, confidence is required of a considerable belief, for the outcome to be realised,
if they could have another go they would do it differently and they could keep the horse in training for another go next year.

can't see there was much else that could have been done bar taking him to the States earlier and having a run/campaign on dirt and they clearly did trust him they were just expecting him to pick up and accelerate like he does on turf but that is not how dirt racing works - he got beaten in a close driving finish and they cannot be disappointed with how he ran or was ridden

hindsight is 20:20 and using the outcome to then say 'if they could have another go they would do it differently' is complete nonsense I'm afraid, they are experienced people, they made a plan and executed it to near perfection and it nearly worked - you can't then say 'if the plan had been different the result would have been too'

I think Joseph gave him a great ride. He rode him with the confidence he would handle the surface and trip. I thought he had little chance of winning but he proved me completely wrong.
He is not normally ridden on the front end so he was never going to last night Bazzar. Their plan was spot on and Joseph gave him a great ride. DOW was very tough inside the distance, and battled all the way.

Two times champion jockey including riding a record number of winners,"J O'B still has a lot to learn". You cannot be serious.