After missing Royal Ascot, Ward pointing Outfielder to Prix Morny
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Wesley Ward said during the third week of May that his Royal Ascot plans hinged on a 2-year-old colt named Outfielder. If Outfielder ran to expectations in a maiden turf sprint May 23 at Churchill, he’d head whatever team Ward decided to send overseas. Outfielder did run to expectations, and he was the hinge point for Ward’s Royal Ascot participation. But Ward, for the first time since 2012, is not sending anyone to the five-day Royal Ascot meeting that begins Tuesday.
Outfielder won his debut by more than six lengths, running fast early, fast late, and smoothly throughout. Ward gave Outfielder his first post-race breeze on June 10 at Keeneland.
“He worked on the grass and came back with just a nothing, a tiny little shin,” Ward said. “You can’t go all the way to Ascot with any question marks. And it was back a little quick from a big effort.”
That does not mean Outfielder, a son of More Than Ready who Ward owns in partnership with Amo Racing USA and Two Eight Racing, will stick to the west side of the Atlantic this summer. Ward targets the rich Kentucky Downs meeting in late summer, but the goal with Outfielder as a stallion prospect, Ward said, is to win a Grade 1 with more than a fat purse. And with that in mind, Outfielder now has the Prix Morny in August at Deauville as his main summer goal. Ward has a strongly positive history in the Morny, contested over a straight six furlongs.
“I’ve been four times, have three wins and a second. No Nay Never [who won in 2013] went on to be a great stallion. You’d have to think along those same lines. This is a big, strong colt meant to go farther. Timing-wise, it’s perfect,” Ward said.
Kentucky Downs, however, is the target for 4-year-old filly Kehoe Beach, who finished fourth, beaten two lengths, after setting the pace June 6 in the Grade 1 Just a Game at Saratoga, her second start this season. In her first, Kehoe Beach led and held third, a similarly strong performance, in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April.
While Kehoe Beach has natural speed, Ward rued her trip in the Just a Game, where she led by three lengths on the backstretch.
“I just wish [Irad Ortiz Jr.] would have eased up a little bit in the first part of the race instead of going out there by three or four or whatever,” Ward said. “She had been breezing behind horses. She broke so well, he kind of wanted to take advantage of it. I think on fast ground she can overcome a trip like that. Not on soft ground.”
Kehoe Beach exited the Just a Game in good order and Ward has her aimed at the $2 million Ladies Turf on Aug. 30 at Kentucky Downs. Whether she starts before then remains to be determined, Ward said.
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