Juvenile champion War Pass dead

War Pass earned his championship with a dominating score in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (Alex Evers/Horsephotos.com)

WAR PASS (Cherokee Run), the champion juvenile colt of 2007, died Christmas

Eve at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky. The

five-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.

War Pass compiled a record 7-5-1-0 with earnings of $1,583,400. He was

undefeated in four starts at age two, winning his debut at Saratoga by 2 3/4

lengths and later notching an allowance at the same course by 5 1/2 lengths. He

made his stakes debut in the Champagne S. (G1) at Belmont Park, winning by 1 1/2

lengths, then concluded his championship campaign with a 4 /4-length score in

the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Monmouth Park.

High-weighted on the Experimental Free Handicap, War Pass made his

three-year-old debut in an allowance at Gulfstream Park. He won for fun by 7 1/2

lengths, but met his first reversal when last of seven in the Tampa Bay Derby

(G3) at odds of 1-20. He fared better in what would be his final career start in

the Wood Memorial S. (G1) at Aqueduct, finishing a half-length second to Tale of

Ekati.

"We are very saddened to lose such a promising stallion. His first foals

arrived this year and were extremely well received. He will be buried in the

Lane's End cemetery," Farish said.