War Front's covering fee to remain at $250,000 for 2018

Claiborne Farm has announced the fees for a host of its residents for the 2018 breeding season, with top-class sire War Front set to remain at $250,000 and new recruit Mastery to command a fee of $25,000 at the beginning of his second career.

Even by his own standards, War Front's progeny have enjoyed an extremely successful 2017 Flat season so far, with two new elite winners on both sides of the Atlantic.

Among them are Group 1-winning siblings Roly Poly and US Navy Flag and Joseph Allen's homebred filly War Flag, a winner of the Flower Bowl at Belmont on Sunday.

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Mastery, a three-year-old son of Candy Ride, joins the Claiborne roster in Paris, Kentucky after winning all four of his starts for Bob Baffert, including the 1m½f Grade 1 Cash Call Futurity at two and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes over the same distance in March.

Raced by Cheyenne Stables, Mastery was sold by his breeder Stone Farm for $425,000 to Cromwell Bloodstock at the Keeneland September Sale.

Runhappy, meanwhile, retired to Claiborne this year at a fee of $25,000, which will remain the same for 2018. A three-time Group 1 winner, the highlight of his racing career came in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland, when he saw off the challenge of Private Zone.

Fees for the rest of the roster including Blame, Flatter and Orb will be announced after the Breeders' Cup.

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