Hours after he saw one juvenile son finish third in a French Group 1, WAR FRONT saw another 2-year-old earn blacktype when Annapolis won the Pilgrim Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park to becomehis sire’s 100th stakes winner.
An impressive winner on debut last out, the 2-year-old was immediately promoted to stakes level by trainer Todd Pletcher. That proved to be a smart move.
Breaking well, Annapolis tracked the leader throughout the backstretch with the other two in the field a few lengths behind.
Irad Ortiz Jr. let his mount creep forward until Annapolis was within a neck of the leader and a duel was quickly initiated. Annapolis and Portfolio Company raced eye-to-eye until the final sixteenth when the runner-up finally gave in and Annapolis inched away to win by a head.
“He fought the whole way to the wire,” Ortiz said. “That was a nice race. The way he did it last time he looked like a nice horse, so we expected him to move forward and he did.”
A homebred for Bass Racing Stable, Annapolis is out of Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed My Miss Sophia. That mare was purchased carrying Annapolis for $4 million by Steve Young at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale the same year she had WAR FRONT’s stakes-placed Nevisian Sunrise.
Out of stakes winner Wildwood Flower, My Miss Sophia is a half-sister to Florida Derby (G1) winner Materiality and to the dam of stakes-placed Palladium. Wildwood Flower not only was a stakes winner and producer but is also a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Eye of the Tiger and to stakes-placed Expanse. That mare is the dam of Grade 1 winners Afleet Express and Embellish The Lace.
My Miss Sophia had another WAR FRONT colt this year and returned to the Claiborne stalwart for 2022.