War Emblem - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

War Emblem was the winner of the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

and Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

in 2002. His Derby time was 2:01.13. Victor Espinoza

Victor Espinoza

Victor Espinoza is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding in his native Mexico and earned his first win there in 1992 before moving the following year to compete at racetracks in California....

was his jockey for the Derby, never having seen the horse until the morning of the race. War Emblem, who went off at 21-to-1 odds, gave trainer Bob Baffert

Bob Baffert

Robert A. "Bob" Baffert is an American horse owner and trainer, whose horses have won three Kentucky Derbies, five Preakness Stakes, one Belmont Stakes and two Kentucky Oaks. He graduated from the University of Arizona's with a Bachelor of Science degree. -Early career:Bob Baffert began his...

his third Derby winner in 12 tries. War Emblem beat the likes of Medaglia d'Oro

Medaglia d'Oro

Medaglia d'Oro is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Albert & Joyce Bell, a translation of his Italian name means "Gold Medal." He was sired by Ireland's 1991 Champion 2-Year-Old, El Prado, who was a son of the fourteen-time Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland, Sadler's Wells who in...

(winner of the Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

, Jim Dandy Stakes

Jim Dandy Stakes

The Jim Dandy Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race. The Grade II race has been held annually since 1964 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is open to horses age three, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. It carries a purse of $500,000. Prior...

, and Whitney Handicap

Whitney Handicap

The Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...

among others); Perfect Drift

Perfect Drift

Perfect Drift, is an American thoroughbred gelding racehorse. He is sired by the leading stud, Dynaformer, out of the Naskra mare, Nice Gal....

(winner of the Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster Handicap

The Stephen Foster Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run in mid-June near the end of the Churchill Downs Spring Meet in Louisville, Kentucky...

, the Indiana Derby

Indiana Derby

The Indiana Derby is an American thoroughbred horse race run annually since 1995 at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana. It is the racetrack's signature event offering its highest purse at $500,000....

, and the Washington Park Handicap

Washington Park Handicap

The Washington Park Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of September at Arlington Park Racetrack in Arlington Heights, Illinois. A Grade III event open to horses age three and older, it is contested on Polytrack synthetic dirt over a distance of a...

twice, among others); and Harlan's Holiday (winner of the Florida Derby

Florida Derby

The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...

, the Pennsylvania Derby

Pennsylvania Derby

The Pennsylvania Derby is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Parx Racing and Casino each year. The track's premiere event is open to horses, age three, willing to race on the dirt and as of 2007, offers a purse of $1 million...

, and the Donn Handicap

Donn Handicap

The Donn Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late January/early February at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida.The race is named after the Donn family, who for many years owned and operated the racetrack....

among others).

Early career

War Emblem's sire was Our Emblem, and his dam was Sweetest Lady. He also won the 2002 Preakness Stakes

2002 Preakness Stakes

The 2002 Preakness Stakes was the 127th running of the Preakness Stakes. The race took place on May 18, 2002, and was televised in the United States on the NBC television network. War Emblem, who was jockeyed by Victor Espinoza, won the race. Approximate post time was 6:12 p.m. Eastern Time...

and the Haskell Invitational Handicap

Haskell Invitational Handicap

The Resorts Casino & Hotel Haskell Invitational is an American Grade I race for thoroughbred horses. In 1968, the Board of Directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey honored its former President and Chairman Amory L. Haskell with the Amory L. Haskell Handicap, a race for older...

, and had prepped for the Derby with a win at the Illinois Derby

Illinois Derby

The Illinois Derby is a race for Thoroughbred horses held in early April each year. First run in 1923, the Derby takes place at Hawthorne Race Course located in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, just west of Chicago...

.

The Kentucky-bred War Emblem, dark brown with a stark white demarkation between his eyes, lost the Triple Crown

Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

bid to Sarava

Sarava

Sarava is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2002 Belmont Stakes. Sired by the 1984 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Wild Again, he was out of the mare Rhythm of Life, a daughter of Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee and two-time Leading sire in North America,...

at the Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

. Sarava had odds of 70-1. War Emblem stumbled and nearly fell to his knees out of the gate coming out in last place and surged to the lead in the final turn before fading quickly at the top of the stretch. The Belmont attracted the biggest crowd in the track's history with 103,222 spectators.

Baffert said of the Belmont, "He was so one-dimensional and such an irritable horse as it was, as soon as he was behind horses, I had to sit there for 2½ minutes waiting for the race to be over." As he approached the quarter pole, Tom Durkin called, "And War Emblem is toiling as we turn for home."

Ahmed bin Salman bought a ninety percent interest in War Emblem for $1 million from the Russell L. Reineman Stable following the horse's April 6 win in the Illinois Derby

Illinois Derby

, just three weeks before the Kentucky Derby.

Career as a sire

In September 2002, War Emblem was sold to the prominent Yoshida racing family of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

for US$17.7 million to stand at stud

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

at their renowned Shadai Stallion Station

Shadai Stallion Station

is a thoroughbred breeding facility located in Abira on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. The farm was begun in the late 1970s, early 1980s by the late Zenya Yoshida and is now run jointly by his sons , known collectively as the Shadai Group. As of 2006, the brothers own 3,000 horses worldwide...

in Shiraoi, Hokkaido

Shiraoi, Hokkaido

is a town located in Shiraoi District, Iburi, Hokkaidō, Japan. As of 31 May 2008, the town had a population of 20,371 The town was established in 1867 by the feudal lords of Sendai. Most of the area of the town is forested and parts lie within the Shikotsu-Tōya National Park.-History:Shiraoi like...

.

Expected to follow in the footsteps of Shadai's great sires Northern Taste

Northern Taste

Northern Taste was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in France and who became a legendary sire in Japan. Bred by E. P. Taylor at his Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario, Northern Taste was out of the mare Lady Victoria, a daughter of Canadian Hall of Fame inductee, Victoria Park. ...

and Sunday Silence

Sunday Silence

Sunday Silence was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, earning distinction as 1989 American Horse of the Year over American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse Easy Goer. He was foaled in 1986, sired by Halo out of Wishing Well by Understanding. Though he was registered as a dark bay/brown, he was in...

, War Emblem has had problems in the breeding shed. His matings produced only four foals in his first year at stud, then after an extended vacation, more than forty in his second, then only two in his third. In 2007 and 2008, it was reported that War Emblem has rejected nearly every mare presented to him for mating.

War Emblem was represented by his first career stakes winner when Shonan Alba (Xianlang (IRE), by Great Commotion) won the Kyodo News Service Hai, an 1,800 meter listed race on Tokyo Race Course's turf course. Nearly a month later, the filly Air Pascale (Raffica, by Sunday Silence) scored in the listed Tulip Sho at Hashin Race Course. Then, on March 22, another filly, Black Emblem (Vin de Noir, by Hector Protector), became War Emblem's third stakes winner from 26 lifetime foals with an odds-on victory in the Flower Cup at 1,800 meters at Nakayama Race Course.

On June 8, 2008, War Emblem was evaluated by a stallion behavior team from the University of Pennsylvania. They suggested that he should be separated from other stallions to help improve his confidence. The measures seemed to help War Emblem in the 2009 breeding season, with a career record of 43 foals born in 2010. However, War Emblem reverted to his old habits in 2010, only covering 5 of 300 mares presented to him in the season.

Pedigree

External links

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