by Alan Carasso
For 36-year-old trainer Olly Stevens, Saturday's GI Ashland S. will be a homecoming of sorts. Again.
When last seen at the historic Lexington oval, Stevens was unsaddling Qatar Racing's Peace and War (War Front) following a somewhat improbable victory in the track's GI Darley Alcibiades S. on the first Friday of October 2014. With a strong performance Saturday, Stevens is looking forward to the possibility of an appearance about 70 miles west on the first Friday of May.
Raised in Newmarket, the 'headquarters' of the English racing scene, Stevens cut his teeth while working under James Fanshawe and Jessica Harrington, then came to the U.S. and worked for a time with trainer Bob Hess in California. He later hooked up with and became the assistant to trainer Kellyn Gorder and, through Gorder's association with WinStar Farm, was hands-on in the development of such runners as GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon) as well as Drosselmeyer (Distorted Humor), victorious in the GI Belmont S. and later the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.
Stevens's wife Hetta is a key cog in the operation, having spent time at Lindsay Park in Australia before working the sales with Harry Herbert and John Warren. This experience led to a stint with bloodstock agent David Redvers, and, after winning a scholarship for assistant trainers, worked with Michael Dickinson until his retirement. After an additional period with Dale Romans, she linked up with the Gorder barn, and her relationship with Redvers, now racing manager to Sheikh Fahad, helped earn Stevens his first job as head trainer.
“It's been an absolute pleasure and that's very much from the heart,” Stevens commented as he reflected on the relationship with his employer. “Sheikh Fahad has been incredibly forgiving of mistakes I've made, which is something we all do. He's a sportsman in the old-fashioned sense, this filly being a case in point–he's willing to give it a shot and come over here and try something that really, on the face of it, might look crazy to a lot of people. He's on a first-name basis with all my help, the first thing he'll ask is how my kids are.
He continued, “He's also started galloping horses for us. He's going around to a lot of the trainers he has horses with and getting horses and getting fit for a charity race in Ireland. We even ran the London Marathon together, he's just that kind of guy, the sort of guy you want to work for, just a real pleasure.”
Bred in Florida by Sally J. Andersen, Peace and War, a $300,000 Keeneland September graduate, was the apple of the Qatar Racing team's eye, and Stevens admits it was a case of love at first sight.
“She's a filly we always thought a huge amount of, really from the second we saw her at the sale,” said Stevens, who trains a total of 32 horses, including 17 for Qatar Racing and other associated partnerships.
Sent off the 11-10 favorite in a six-furlong maiden over the Lingfield all-weather last May 27, Peace and War missed the break, but came after the leader inside the final furlong and reported home a half-length winner (video). Tested for class next time in the G3 Albany S. at the Royal meeting June 20, she rallied from midfield to be sixth, beaten just over seven lengths, behind the classy Cursory Glance (Distorted Humor) and subsequent GI Del Mar Debutante winner Sunset Glow (Exchange Rate).
“She lived up to her reputation at home once we got her galloping, she broke her maiden first time out, and to be honest, I was kind of disappointed with her run at Ascot,” he offered. “I felt she was better than that based on the way she'd been training at home and her breezes.”
Runner-up in a conditions test over seven grassy furlongs at Haydock Aug. 8, Sheikh Fahad and team decided to roll the dice and programmed Peace and War for an appearance at Keeneland with a longer-term eye on the Breeders' Cup.
“We brought her over about 12 days prior and we nominated to both the Alcibiades and to the [GIII] Jessamine [S. on the turf],” Stevens recollected. “The owners were eager to give her a chance to run in the Breeders' Cup. And I said the best shot to get in would be to run in Keeneland because we can breeze her on the dirt, figure out whether she likes it, and then we either go in the Alcibiades or the Jessamine. We breeze her on the dirt five days out from the Alcibiades and Julien Leparoux's reaction made us all pretty excited.”
And thus the decision was made to give the main track a try in the Alcibiades, a “Win and You're In” event for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Let go at 23-1 over a rain-affected surface, Peace and War found next to last a half-mile into the race, but zoomed up into contention on the turn, and, despite encountering traffic a furlong and a half from the wire, managed to get up for a half-length success (video).
The keys to that effort?
“I'm not sure it was the dirt or the Lasix or the other reasons people might like to give to it,” Stevens admitted. “I think it was probably the distance, she's probably not a six-furlong horse. The dirt seemed to help her. But she relaxes really well and quickens really hard.”
He added, “She's got a lightning turn of foot at home, but looking at the others, I think they were stopping and our filly was just running even fractions in the Alcibiades. The times I get from her at home are the times I expect from sprinters with Grade I form.”
But in a game full of peaks and valleys, news came from Gorder, overseeing the progress of Peace and War, that she had suffered a ligament injury and would be forced to miss the Breeders' Cup.
“At the time, it was frustrating, but I suppose the silver lining is that she's come back really good,” he explained. “The hardest thing to do is to do right by the horse. It would be easy to say let's medicate her and take her to California. The much tougher decision was to bring her home, but I'm glad we did. She's still in one piece, and had we done the other thing, we might not be. I can sleep at night anyways.”
Peace and War was sent over to WinStar Farm and recovered well under the watchful eye of the farm's Richard Budge before returning to England with purchases from the Keeneland November sale. Stevens, who conditions Lightning Thunder (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), runner-up in the G1 English and Irish 1000 Guineas last season, is not especially concerned with bringing his filly back first-up off the extended absence.
“I wouldn't want to campaign a good filly through the winter,” Stevens insists. “Fillies especially, I think, need a break. If we were campaigning her for the Guineas, we would have taken her straight to the Guineas. We're campaigning her towards the [Kentucky] Oaks, she's a course-and-distance winner at the Grade I level and I like the idea of going in there. We're a little light on points. Keeneland was my base for so long and they look after her so well here and we really wanted to make this race.
“We might be thinking in five days' time, 'Well, at least we tried,' and be flying home, but you dream of Classics,” he reasoned. “Last year we had a genuine Classics contender in our second year of training and we're only small, numerically, and I really didn't think it could be happening again so soon.”
With a positive run Saturday, it would likely be on to Churchill and America's Oaks May 1. But “we're keeping our options open,” the conditioner says.
“We've also discussed the [G1 Investec] Oaks [at Epsom] and the [G1] Coronation S. [at Royal Ascot],” he stated, referring to potential plans B. “The evidence is there that American pedigrees go well at Ascot, they're pretty effective there, so that's an option for her.”
Regardless of her next run, it's a good chance Peace and War will be seen on these shores again come summertime.
“In my heart of hearts, I really like the Alabama for her,” Stevens said, referring to the Saratoga 3-year-old filly feature. “If the dream scenario came around, I really like the distance of the Alabama.”
For Stevens and Peace and War, it really does seem like America might just become home, sweet home.
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