Ante-Post: 2.000 Guineas 2014

Yes, Cheltenham is looming but I have to admit my attention goes already way beyond that: Right towards the first classic of the season - the 2.000 Guineas at Newmarket! This years renewal looks an extremely strong and deep one, with plenty of exciting horses emerging as potential candidates, in the names of Kingman, Australia, Toormore or Kingston Hill. They are all really promising colts, with plenty of ability, but I feel one candidate is underestimated and deserves stronger recognition. The horse I'm talking about is the Aiden O'Brien trained War Command. Why do I think so? I'll tell you.

Pedigree:

War Command is beautifully bred. He is a son of War Front. This US sire made a big name for himself in 2013, mainly through the names of War Command and of course Declaration of War - the likable, hardy winner of the Queen Anne and Juddmonte International Stakes, who was also a close third the Breeders Cup Classis at the end of the season. War Front usually stands for speed but his offspring can also develop into top class milers. War Command's dam is the Woodbine EP Taylor Stakes winning mare Wandering Star. She is a winner of four of her seven career starts, and she was a Listed winner over a mile and a Group 2 winner over 10 furlongs. In don't want to go much deeper into pedigree analyses because I think it isn't really essential. What this short summery proves however: War Command is lovely bred indeed - by a top class sire and out of a really good mare. He has speed and he has a bit of stamina in his blood, but most importantly he has perfect miler pedigree. And that brings me to another interesting point:

Racing Performance:

War Command was extremely successful as a two year old. He won a Leopardstown maiden on his debut, and only nine days later destroyed a deep field in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot over 6 furlongs! So War Command was fast enough to win the premier 6f race for two year olds on his second only start. He was disappointing on his next start at the Curragh, but something was amiss that day - and in all fairness, that form doesn't look to badly on paper either, since the winner went on to land the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes later on the year. War Command put the record straight when appearing next in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh, stepping up to 7 furlongs for the first time. In all fairness, this wasn't the strongest field, but one had to be impressed with the way War Command accelerated from 2f out, to win with authority and pretty easily in the end. He went on to win the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket afterwards. Again, there might have been stronger renewals of this race, and War Command might not appeared to be flashy in the way he won the race either. But he won it well, he travelled fine until 2f out, he beat subsequent Breeders Cup winner Outstrip decisively, while he probably wasn't all that well suited by the slow ground actually. Yet he won and seemed to have absolutely no problem with the unique test that the Rowley Mile provides. 

Summery: 

I can't see what is not to like about War Command. He is progresssive, he is a multiple Group winner over 6-7 furlong, he has Newmarket course form thanks to the Dewhurst win and he should be well suited by the step up to one mile according to his pedigree. Surely he ticks all the right boxes for the 2.000 Guineas and personally I can see him being very hard to beat on the day. Therefore his price looks big enough and I'm happy to invest a bit of ante-post money.

2.000 Guineas Ante-Post: War Command @ 8/1 William Hill - 2pts win