War Front and Kitten’s Joy pick a good time to show their quality

Kitten’s Joy, pictured with owner Ken Ramsey, is up to #21 in the world sires’ rankings. Photo: ramseyfarm.com/Daniel Sigal

They’re widely recognised as America’s two top turf sires, and War Front and Kitten’s Joy underlined their prowess with significant climbs in the world sires’ rankings last week. But it was all down to their runners in Europe.

War Front, who stands at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky at an advertised fee of $250,000 - the fifth highest in the world, moves up from #30 to #17 after a handsome seven-point gain week on week. The son of Danzig owes much of his prominence to the patronage of Coolmore, and indeed it was the Irish operation that supplied his two Group winners last week: Roly Poly in the G1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket and Spirit Of Valor in a G2 at the Curragh.

Both Roly Poly and Spirit Of Valor look to be improving 3-year-olds, which is a shot in the arm for War Front’s supporters amid accusations that the stallion’s progeny rarely excel beyond the age of two.

Another feather in War Front’s cap came when his son, Declaration Of War, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, was responsible for his own first Group winner from his first crop, the Aidan O’Brien-trained 2-year-old filly Actress taking a G2 at the Curragh on Sunday.

Kitten’s Joy, who stands at Ramsey Farm in Kentucky at an advertised fee of $100,000, already has a formidable record as a turf sire in the U.S., and his Europe-based stock have been joining in the fun in the past couple of seasons. Now he is up to world #21 (from #30 - he was tied there with War Front) after two successes last week - a G2 triumph for Godolphin’s 2016 Coral-Eclipse winner Hawkbill at Newmarket and a G3 for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Taareef at Maisons-Laffitte.

These are timely boosts ahead of this year’s Saratoga meet, which starts tomorrow, even though neither War Front nor Kitten’s Joy will be able to rely on their European progeny to improve their standings in the TRC stats for Saratoga.

LEADING SIRES IN GRADED STAKES AT SARATOGA 2011-2016

Rank

Name

Rnrs

Runs

Strike rate

G1 wins

G2 wins

G3 wins

Pts

1

Curlin

7

16

38

2

2

2

1034

2

Tapit

33

51

20

3

4

3

1030

3

Super Saver

5

7

57

3

1

0

1024

4

Dansili

5

10

50

3

2

0

1020

5

Bernardini

21

34

32

7

4

0

1016

6

Congrats

9

12

42

4

1

0

1016

7

Unbridled's Song

17

27

22

6

0

0

1015

8

Tale Of The Cat

7

12

42

2

2

1

1014

9

Hard Spun

10

16

25

3

1

0

1010

10

Tiznow

12

15

20

3

0

0

1004

14

Kitten's Joy

15

27

19

1

4

0

1004

17

War Front

12

20

10

0

2

0

1004

According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm

On the subject of stats for Saratoga, here are the top tens for jockeys, trainers and owners over the last six years of competition in Graded stakes at the Spa:

LEADING JOCKEYS IN GRADED STAKES AT SARATOGA 2011-2016

Rank

Name

Horses

Runs

Strike rate

G1 wins

G2 wins

G3 wins

Pts

1

Javier Castellano

128

155

25

22

11

5

1058

2

John R Velazquez

142

173

21

14

12

10

1027

3

Irad Ortiz Jr

85

101

17

8

7

2

1015

4

Mike E Smith

18

22

27

5

1

0

1015

5

Joe Bravo

26

28

21

6

0

0

998

6

Jose L Ortiz

62

81

9

2

4

1

984

7

Joel Rosario

96

106

11

3

6

3

981

8

Rajiv Maragh

37

45

20

5

3

1

977

9

Junior Alvarado

56

65

11

3

3

1

973

10

Luis Saez

53

61

10

3

1

2

973

According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm

LEADING TRAINERS IN GRADED STAKES AT SARATOGA 2011-2016

Rank

Name

Horses

Runs

Strike rate

G1 wins

G2 wins

G3 wins

Pts

1

Chad C Brown

67

91

19

5

10

2

1027

2

Kiaran McLaughlin

35

54

26

9

4

1

1020

3

Todd Pletcher

122

184

21

16

14

8

1001

4

Claude McGaughey III

24

35

20

2

3

2

993

5

Bob Baffert

17

21

14

3

0

0

992

6

Anthony Dutrow

13

19

37

4

1

2

991

7

Christophe Clement

18

22

18

2

0

2

988

8

Mark Casse

18

21

10

1

0

1

988

9

H Graham Motion

30

36

17

1

4

1

982

10

William Mott

56

81

11

5

2

2

979

According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm

LEADING OWNERS IN GRADED STAKES AT SARATOGA 2011-2016

Rank

Name

Horses

Runs

Strike rate

G1 wins

G2 wins

G3 wins

Pts

1

Juddmonte Farms

14

19

37

4

2

1

1010

2

Stonestreet Stables

11

18

50

4

5

0

1000

3

Fox Hill Farms Inc

6

8

50

3

1

0

993

4

Klaravich Stables Inc & William H Lawrence

15

22

32

2

5

0

993

5

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners

6

11

27

2

0

1

990

6

Alex & Joann Lieblong

5

8

38

2

1

0

989

7

Morton Fink

2

5

60

0

3

0

987

8

Phillips Racing Partnership

3

5

60

1

2

0

986

9

Godolphin

26

43

23

7

2

1

985

10

St Elias Stable & West Point Thoroughbreds

3

6

33

0

1

1

985

According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm

Frankel is up again

War Front is in a three-way tie for 17th in the TRC global sires’ standings - alongside the two highest-ranked sons of Galileo: Teofilo and Frankel, who has gained another four points and another four places after the G2 Maisons-Laffitte victory of the Juddmonte colt Finche. Frankel, of course, remains the highest-ranked second season stallion.

Click here for a list of the week’s biggest points gainers.

Click here for a list of the week’s Group and Graded winners.

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