Glorious Goodwood has been a patch of blue sky in our world this week, and getting to see the two-year-olds is a big part of the pleasure. In the Vintage S.-G2, Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore won with what may be another sensation, a War Front colt named Battleground. The Coolmore gang have been collecting War Fronts for a few years now and believe that this North American sire has what it takes to compete in the UK and Europe, and so far they’ve been proven right. With the surprise Breeders’ Cup triumph of Hit It a Bomb a couple of years ago, and many others, their interest in War Front has yielded dividends.

War Front marks the return of the Danzig sire line in America; it had been presumed to be moribund, with his sons and grandsons being subpar as sires. But it is re-invigorated in War Front. In the UK and Europe, Danzig has been prominent and an important way to inbreed to Northern Dancer. Such sires as Danehill and Green Desert are stalwarts in pedigrees, nearly ubiquitous, so this phenomenon is a peculiar one. It would seem like Danzig’s prominence has perpetuated itself in turf race horses, rather than dirt, the main surface in North America. Coolmore seemed to understand this sooner than others, and have benefitted from it.

A look at War Front’s best offspring features many Group and Grade winning horses bred on the same lines as Battleground. U S Navy Flag is out of a Galileo mare, as is Roly Poly and Fog of War. War of Will and Hit It a Bomb are out of Sadler’s Wells mares. War Command and Homesman are out of Red Ransom mares (Battleground’s second dam is by a son of Red Ransom, Intikhab). But it’s the Group One winning Fog of War whose pedigree most resembles Battleground’s. He is out of a Galileo mare, and his second dam is by Dynaformer, providing the strand of Roberto similar to that in Battleground. Bred by the same consortium of Coolmore associates as Battleground, they used the identical template to breed Battleground. It should be noted that Intikhabs second dam is Zienelle, by Danzig, and his third broodmare sire is Nordico, by Northern Dancer, out of Kennelot, the foundation mare of Calumet breeding in modern times; Danzig too was a Calumet-bred, in its second golden period, under the stewardship of Henryk de Kwiatkowski, the diminutive Pole in high-heeled cowboy boots who brought Calumet back to starry heights.

Kennelot must be described, as she was by Gallant Man, bringing together doses of Plucky Liege via her son Bois Roussel, and Almahmoud, as her dam was Cosmah, daughter of Almahmoud and dam of Halo. She is the perfect complement to the Natalma (daughter of Almahmoud) who appears so many times in this pedigree as the dam of Northern Dancer. More, Gallant Man’s dam is the Mahmoud mare, Majideh. Hidden there in the fifth generation of Battleground, she may be the key to this pedigree, especially when paired with the huge Mahmoud dose in War Front via his son The Axe II. Stamina is added by Gallant Man’s broodmare sire, Ribot.

Battleground is 3 x 4 x 6 x 5 Northern Dancer, through Danzig twice, Nijinsky II, Sadler’s Wells, his daughter Zienelle (creating the zigzag) and Nordico, a combination we see frequently. He is also 5 x 5 x 6 Mr. Prospector, through Fappiano on his sire’s side, and Miswaki on his dam’s, via the great mare Urban Sea, and Crafty Prospector. The breeders have also added multiple threads of the In Reality line, twice through War Front, via Fappiano and Moon Glitter, a daughter of In Reality, and via Crafty Prospector, in the fifth generation of Battleground, the dams’ sire of Intikhab. We see more and more of the value of the addition of the In Reality/Dr. Fager/My Dear Girl family to European pedigrees. Though it was a strictly American line, rendering speed and power on dirt, it clearly adds toughness to European lines.

Finally, we would be remiss not to offer kudos to Battleground’s wonderful dam, Found, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf-G1 at Keeneland, and of the Group One Prix de le Arc de Triomph; Battleground is her first foal. Both her dam. Red Evie, and her second dam, Malafemmena were Group winners, and she brings inbreeding to both Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer to the mix, offering a perfect complement to the riches of War Front’s pedigree.

The two-year-olds give us something to look forward to, and the good ones seem like personal discoveries giving us that eureka moment. Battleground may be one of these. Already the winner of a listed stake at Ascot, his Group 2 win at Goodwood marks him as one to watch. This pedigree has no limits to it, so he should be able to stretch out and do great things at three, to become yet another weapon in the Coolmore arsenal.