Boutique Hunter Valley nursery Kitchwin Hills have always been great supporters of the Breednet Foal Gallery and when they sent in this image back in 2015 of a colt by Declaration of War (USA) from Geblitzt it’s fairly safe to say nobody thought we had a Melbourne Cup winner in the making.
The Foal Gallery of 2015 was actually sponsored by Coolmore for Declaration of War, a dual Group I winning son of champion US sire War Front, that found his best form as a four year-old from 1600 to 2000m.
A tough versatile horse, Declaration of War won the Group I Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot over 1m and the Group I York International at 10 1/2f and closed out his career with a third in the Breeders Cup Classic on dirt at a mile and a quarter.
There was nothing speedy or precocious about him, although he did win his only starts in France at two over 1500 and 1700m, but at the same time his pedigree hardly screams long distance stayer and yet these are the horses that are making this stallion, who is now standing in Japan, into a slow burn success at stud.
Vow and Declare is his third long distance Group I winner in Australia joining last Saturday’s Group I VRC Victoria Derby winner Warning and Winning Ways, who won the Queensland Oaks last season.
His success as a sire of stayers won’t be lost on the Japanese breeders, so while we may only have two crops of Declaration of War stock here, expect to see more of them in the future challenging for our Cups, but they may be Japanese bred, owned and trained.
Declaration of War has some impressive overall statistics with his oldest progeny worldwide just four year-olds. He has sired 24 stakes-winners, five of them Group I winners, and has a stakes-winner to runner ratio of 7.4% .
Read about Vow and Declare's Cup win here.
