Casse's coming to a decision on War of Will's season debut

The 2019 Preakness Stakes winner War of Will turned in his final breeze Saturday morning toward a scheduled 2020 debut in Gulfstream Park’s May 9 Sunshine Forever Stakes.

But having seen recent steps toward resuming racing on other circuits around the country, it’s still a question as to whether the Mark Casse trainee will appear in a $75,000 race going 1 1/16 miles on turf.

“He worked as if he’s going to run coming up this weekend,” Casse said of War of Will, a 4-year-old War Front colt, “but we’re going to wait and see what they say from Santa Anita.”

Casse, who has made it a goal this season to add a Grade 1 turf win to War of Will’s resume, is also eyeing Santa Anita’s May 25 Shoemaker Mile (G1). The Arcadia, Calif., track released a condition book and stakes schedule in recent days to prepare horsemen should a local “safer-at-home” order be lifted, allowing racing to resume behind closed doors.

The Shoemaker Mile is a “Win and You’re In” prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. That’s a crowded division within the Casse barn, giving the trainer other options to ship west should War of Will indeed come off the bench in the Sunshine Forever.

“Obviously, the big mare’s ready to run, Got Stormy,” Casse said. “I’ve also got March to the Arch. I’d rather not run them against each other. We’ll see what these new condition books tell us.”

Got Stormy, the 5-year-old daughter of Get Stormy, ran second in Santa Anita’s Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1) back on March 7. A Florida-bred gelding by Arch, March to the Arch has placed in back-to-back graded stakes in his home state since a Sunshine Millions Turf victory to open his 5-year-old campaign.

Casse will play the War of Will decision on a day-by-day basis, expecting to enter him Wednesday at Gulfstream. Campaigned by Gary Barber, he last raced when ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Nov. 2.

War of Will actually began his career on the lawn, placing in Woodbine’s 2018 Summer Stakes (G1) as a maiden and competing in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He visited the winner’s circle in start No. 5 -- a Churchill Downs maiden special weight race on dirt -- to cap his rookie season, then won Fair Grounds’ Lecomte (G2) and Risen Star Stakes (G2) on his way to the Preakness score in May.

War of Will is 4-2-1 in 14 starts with earnings of more than $1.6 million. His work Saturday measured a half mile in 49.20 seconds at the Palm Meadows Training Center.