Judge rules Ward can receive funds from Ramsey's sale proceeds

Fourteen horses in training with Wesley Ward and owned by Ken Ramsey have been entered in the Keeneland January sale after a judge ruled on Thursday that the sale should proceed to satisfy debts owed to the trainer.

The ruling, issued by Jessamine Country Circuit Court judge Hunter Daughtery on Thursday, may resolve a months-long financial dispute between Ward and Ramsey, once one of the most successful owners and breeders in the United States. Ward first filed a lawsuit seeking to recover unpaid training bills from Ramsey in March, and asked the judge to approve the auction sale of the horses on Dec. 2.

On Friday, Ward said that he credits Ramsey for helping him get his start as a trainer in the U.S. nearly 20 years ago when he set out on his own after working as an assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.

“I just hate to see it come to this,” he said. “I think Mr. Ramsey is a great guy, and he’s certainly been extremely important to my success. I don’t know what happened financially with him, but I’m just so sorry to see it.”

Ward has claimed that he is owed nearly $1 million in unpaid bills from Ramsey. Any proceeds from the sale above the unpaid amount will go to Ramsey.

“I’m hoping to get him as much money as he possibly can,” Ward said.

Ramsey's attorney Carroll M. Redford III did not respond to request for comment as of Friday afternoon.

The 14 horses, which include Artie's Princess, last year’s champion sprinter in Canada, and two minor stakes winners, have not started since this summer. In a countersuit filed earlier this week, attorneys for Ramsey alleged that Ward was “not looking out for our best interest or the best interest of our horses” because of the lack of starts.

Ward said on Friday that Ramsey had at first told him this summer that he intended to move the horses to another trainer, and that he did not want to expose the horses to “potential injury” by racing them. However, in the fall, Ward said, he asked Ramsey to allow him to run the horses at Keeneland in order to win some purses, but that Ramsey refused.

The 14 horses are all scheduled to work this week at Turfway Park, Ward said, and track officials will record the workouts to be included in the horses’ sales materials.

“They are all doing good, they are all sound, and I am thinking this may end up being the best for him,” Ward said.