WAR OF WILL’s Will Then became her sire’s first stakes winner on Saturday a month after breaking her maiden with a victory in the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3).
The 11-horse Grade 3 saw Will Then take up running as one of the back markers for much of the early running in the one-mile turf race. It wasn’t until the far turn when she was angled wide that Will Then made her way through the field to get ready for a challenge.
That challenge was launched as the field turned into the stretch and with just over a furlong left, she took over the lead. In the final sixteenth, she was clear of the other runners and pulled away to win by 2 ¼ lengths in the end.
An Augustin Stables homebred, Will Then is trained by Jonathan Thomas and has won two of her three starts.
“I loved that trip,” said Thomas. “I actually loved the fact that she got shuffled back. Just for educational reasons I thought this was great. Once the pace kicked on it looked like there was a lot of contested situations in front of us. We just looped and reined out of the back and got a clear run. She’s really figuring this course out quickly.”
She is out of the three-time winner Remember Then, who is also the dam of the stakes winning Born Dapper among five winners from five to race. Remember Then is out of the Grade 2 winner Owsley, who also produced the multiple stakes winner Senada, Grade 1 placed Arthur’s Tale and stakes placed War Hoot.
Two of her other daughters are also stakes producers with those runners including stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Gingham.
It has been a fruitful first crop for WAR OF WILL, whose six juvenile stakes performers is ninth best of all North American sires and is tied with Justify and Mendelssohn.