THE FACTOR (War Front) is well represented by Canadian-bred three-year-olds in 2026 as the broodmare sire of Woodbine Oaks winner LUSTER and sire of MAGICAL FACTOR, second in the Grade 3 Marine. Those are the top two contenders for the August 15 King’s Plate, the $1 million Canadian classic.
The grey Kentucky stallion, who stands at Lane’s End for $5,000, has 11 crops at the races and one of those is a Japanese crop, as he went to stand at stud there early in his career. A son of the very successful stallion War Front (by Danzig, Northern Dancer line) from the Miswaki (Mr. Prospector) mare Greyciousness, The Factor was trained by Bob Baffert during his racing career, winning stakes in 2011 and 2012, mostly at 7 furlongs on the dirt.
The Factor won the Grade 1 Malibu and Pat O’Brien, the latter on Del Mar’s synthetic dirt. He also won the Grade 2 San Carlos and San Vicente Stakes. A very speedy horse, The Factor ran Beyer Figures in the 103 to 105 range numerous times. He won six of 13 starts and over $922,000.
From his 11 crops, The Factor has been consistently good with his offspring each season. And his sons and daughters love any surface and distance. He has 45 black type winners and 39 black type-placed horses. He has a lifetime mark of $90,000 plus for average earnings per runners.
Among his numerous graded stakes winners is CISTRON, winner of the Grade Bing Crosby Stakes, a dirt sprint, and BOUND FOR NOWHERE, a Grade 2 winner sprinting on the grass. Last year his son ATITLAN won the Grade 1 Charlie Whittingham Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf.
The Factor is inbred 4×4 to Nearctic and 5×3 to Mr. Prospector. His sire, War Front, who won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes (G2), is from a Rubiano mare and Rubiano is by the Mr. Prospector son Fappiano. War Front is the sire of over 119 stakes winners.
The dam of The Factor, Greyciousness, was a two-time winner on the track and produced 15 named foals and seven other winners. Her dam, Skatingonthinice, was a stakes winner of over $171,000 and excelled up to one mile on the dirt. Skatingonthinice (like The Factor and Greyciousness, a grey) also produced Chief Seattle, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) in 1999. Skatingonthinice is a half-sister to fleet Woodbine stakes winner SHOWERING, who won the Whimsical Stakes for Josham Farms in the 1990s.
The Factor’s offspring not only enjoy dirt and turf but have done well on synthetic surfaces. That brings us to two of the top contenders for the 167th King’s Plate on August 15, Woodbine Oaks winner Luster and graded stakes placed Magical Factor.
Luster is from the unraced grey mare Ruby Frost, a daughter of The Factor. The cross of Ruby Frost with another Northern Dancer-line sire, KNICKS GO (Paynter, by Awesome Again) has worked well for breeders Ravi Sugrim and his wife Joannie Dass. Knicks Go, a brilliant racehorse and Horse of the Year, entered stud at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, but was whisked off to South Korea for this year’s breeding season. Luster is from his first crop and he is seventh on the leading second-crop sires by progeny earnings for stallions in the northern hemisphere.
Knicks Go’s sire Paynter, winner of the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in 2012 and second in the Belmont Stakes, was probably best known for his comebacks from illness throughout his career. Given a slim chance to survive colitis after his Haskell win, and then laminitis, Paynter gathered a fan following almost as strong as that of the great Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
While he was recovering, Paynter was “voted the 2021 Secretariat Vox Populi Award. Penny Chenery, owner of Secretariat, for whom the award was named, said, “Paynter’s popularity stems from his ability to battle and exceed expectations, making him the perfect choice as the recipient of this year’s Vox Populi Award In January 2013, Paynter’s survival and recovery was voted the ‘Moment of the Year’ by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) in a field of 12 nominees, and the horse’s connections were given that honor at the annual Eclipse Awards,” noted Wikipedia.
Chiefswood Stables’ MAGICAL FACTOR is a son of The Factor and his owners have had success breeding their mares to the stallion. Their runner PIPER’S FACTOR won the 2024 Toronto Cup Stakes and this year set a course record for 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf.
Magical Factor is from the placed mare Think Magic, by Malibu Moon (A.P. Indy sire out of a Mr. Prospector mare), who was bred by Chiefswood. Her dam, MAGICAL AFFAIR, by Giant’s Causeway from the blue hen mare line of Missy Baba – Gay Missile, was purchased by Chiefswood as a yearling from the 2007 Keeneland September sale for $1.55 million.
Trained by Michael Matz, Magical Affair had plenty of ability, but a short career. She won two turf allowance races at Gulfstream and Keeneland and was second in the Edgewood Stakes on turf at Churchill Downs in 2009. She finished fourth in the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes on yielding turf at Belmont Park 29 days later and then a troubled fourth in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park, which proved to be her final start.
Magical Affair did not have much luck in the breeding shed, produced seven foals to race and four winners. Her 2015 foal, Think Magic, has produced two other foals to race other than Magical Factor and one is the current winner Hawkesbury.
However Magical Factor, trained by Rachel Halden, is coming into the Plate off a strong effort behind Brachetto in the Marine Stakes and his pedigree cross is similar to that of Luster. Magical Factor is inbred 4x4x5 to Mr. Prospector with loads of Northern Dancer blood mixed in.
With brilliant speed and plenty of stamina and toughness in the pedigree The Factor could very well be an integral part of this year’s King’s Plate
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