The first yearlings by young Claiborne Farm stallion War Front walked into auction rings in 2009 – not fortuitous timing for a young stallion attempting to prove himself, as the commercial market was reeling from the recession that began the year before. But one decade later, War Front, who stood for $12,500 in that debut season, has climbed his way up from humble beginnings to become the most expensive stallion in North America and a global leader in the commercial marketplace. The stallion enters the Keeneland September yearling sale – North America’s biggest auction, and one that attracts international buyers – as its reigning leader by average sale price, and having checked some key items off his résumé in the course of this season. He also is joined in the commercial arena this year by several accomplished sons with their first yearlings coming to market. Entering this year, War Front, who stands for $250,000 at Claiborne, had not sired a Grade 1-winning male around two turns on dirt. Omaha Beach checked that milestone off, winning the Arkansas Derby to make himself the Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite before being scratched days before the race due to an entrapped epiglottis. But waiting in the wings was War Front’s son War of Will, elevated to seventh in that Derby via disqualification with an adventurous trip. The colt came back to win the Preakness Stakes, giving his sire his first American classic winner. War Front, by Claiborne’s late leading sire Danzig, was a Grade 2-winning sprinter on dirt, but has had international turf success worldwide. His Grade 1/Group 1 winners on turf, in multiple countries and in both hemispheres, include Air Force Blue, American Patriot, Avenge, Brave Anna, Data Link, Declaration of War, Fog of War, Hit It A Bomb, Homesman, Jack Milton, Lancaster Bomber, Lines of Battle, Roly Poly, Summer Soiree, U S Navy Flag, War Command, War Flag, and Warning Flag. Both Omaha Beach and War of Will began their careers on turf – on which War of Will was Grade 1-placed – before eventually moving to dirt, getting back to War Front’s roots. “He started out as a dirt sire. That’s how he got his name out there,” Claiborne president Walker Hancock said this spring. “He had early horses like The Factor, Soldat, and Departing, who were all impressive on the dirt. It really wasn’t until he had two winners at Royal Ascot that he kind of became, I guess, more of a turf sire. But to have horses like War of Will and Omaha Beach on the Derby trail, it’s just proven to people again that War Front can also get a quality dirt horse.” War Front recently reached his milestone 50th graded/group stakes winner. According to Equineline statistics, he is the sire of 86 stakes winners. Those numbers were achieved from relatively small groups of foals. From his 10 crops of racing age, including current 2-year-olds, War Front is the sire of 750 foals of racing age. For the sake of context, Bernardini and Congrats, both consistent stakes sires who entered stud in the same year as War Front, have 1,056 and 960 Northern Hemisphere foals of racing age, respectively. Claiborne Farm has, historically, been relatively selective with its stallions’ books, keeping them to modest sizes by today’s standards. War Front covered 82 mares in 2018, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. The average book size for a Claiborne stallion was 81 mares, and only five of the farm’s 12 stallions covered triple-digit books. Meanwhile, in order to break into the top 25 busiest stallions in North America, a stallion’s book size would have had to be 154 or higher. But as War Front has succeeded, both on the track internationally and in the commercial arena, these supply-and-demand dynamics have not only helped his stud fee skyrocket atop the North American chart, but have made his progeny hotly contested commodities in the sale ring. The stallion’s worldwide yearling average price steadily climbed from $34,054 in 2009, the year of his debut crop, to top a half-million for the first time, at $596,040, in 2014. It has not slipped below that half-million mark since, finishing at $595,611 in 2015, $606,177 in 2016, $678,981 in 2017, and $743,293 last year. Powered by a $2.4 million sale-topping colt and four other seven-figure yearlings, War Front reigned as Keeneland September’s leading sire by average price in 2018, finishing with 18 yearlings sold for $14,085,000, an average price of $782,500. “What can I say about War Front?” Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier said after signing the ticket for the sale topper. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve been exceptionally lucky with the horse.” War Front also led Keeneland September by average in 2015, checked in second in 2016 and 2017, and was third in 2014. War Front is represented by 34 yearlings in this year’s Keeneland September catalog, all but three of those were slotted in the elite Book 1 portion. Six of his yearlings are out of Grade 1/Group 1 winners, including Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can and Irish 1000 Guineas winner Marvellous. Another five are out of Grade 1/Group 1 producers. War Front has 21 sons advertised at stud worldwide, with his established sons led by The Factor, who entered stud at Lane’s End in 2013. The Factor, who also has had stints in Australia and Japan, is the sire of Grade 1 winners Cistron and Noted and Quoted, and graded/group stakes winners Bound for Nowhere, Bandua, Fun Fact, and Multiplier. Five sons of War Front entered stud in 2017, and thus have their first yearlings coming to the commercial arena this year, led by Air Force Blue at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud and Hit It a Bomb at Spendthrift Farm, both outstanding juveniles who also have stood internationally. Air Force Blue, purchased for $490,000 by Coolmore as a Keeneland September yearling, was the 2015 Cartier Award European champion 2-year-old male, winning the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes in England and the Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National and Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes in Ireland. “With the exception of Frankel, who has made such a brilliant start to his stud career, Air Force Blue is Timeform’s highest-rated juvenile in nearly 20 years,” Ashford manager Dermot Ryan noted at the time of the colt’s retirement. “In fact, he’s the highest-rated juvenile ever from the Danzig line. “All of our team loved Air Force Blue when we saw him as a yearling at Keeneland. He was a very racy sort with plenty of size and scope and a great action, so he very quickly went on the short list.” Air Force Blue covered 153 mares in his first season at Ashford, according to the Report of Mares Bred. The stallion, who also shuttles to stand at Coolmore Australia, is averaging $137,262 for his first yearlings, with nine sold this year. He has 52 in the catalog at Keeneland September, including two in Book 1 – a half-sister to Group 3 U.A.E. Oaks winner Divine Image, and a half-brother to English stakes-placed Isomer. Hit It a Bomb, winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, retired to Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky and also has shuttled to stand at Spendthrift Australia and in Argentina. The stallion covered 48 mares in his debut season and has five yearlings cataloged at Keeneland September. War Front also had three sons enter stud in regional markets in 2017 who were all in solid demand – Mosler (covered 102 mares) at Country Life Farm in Maryland, Peace and Justice (38) at Northview Pennsylvania, and War Dancer (102) at Irish Hills and Dutchess Views Stallions in New York. Of those three, only War Dancer has yearlings in the catalog at Keeneland, with five.