Champion and multiple grade I winner War Pass died Dec. 24 at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky. The 5-year-old stallion had just arrived the evening before in good order from standing his second Southern Hemisphere season at Widden Stud in Australia.
The morning of his death, War Pass showed no signs of illness or injury. He was turned out in his paddock and died several hours later. Preliminary necropsy results are inconclusive.
“We are very saddened to lose such a promising stallion,” Farish said. “His first foals arrived this year and were extremely well received. He will be buried in the Lane’s End cemetery.”
Unbeaten at 2, War Pass captured the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) and the Champagne Stakes (gr. I). He was named champion 2-year-old male in 2007. At 3, he ran second in the Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I).
Bred in Kentucky by Cherry Valley Farm, War Pass was raced by Robert V. LaPenta and trained by Nick Zito. He won five of seven starts and earned $1,583,400. A half brother to grade I winner Oath, War Pass was sired by champion Cherokee Run (pensioned in 2009) and was out of the stakes-placed Mr. Prospector mare Vue. He was a $180,000 Keeneland September yearling sale graduate.
War Pass entered stud at Lane's End for the 2009 season with a fee of $30,000 and has 63 reported foals from that crop. He covered 83 mares in his second year at Lane's End earlier this year. His stud fee in 2010 was $20,000.