Kentucky Derby: For Ward and Like the King, there's no place like home

Among those who welcomed the elevation of the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby at Turfway into a 100-point Kentucky Derby prep after Churchill Downs’s acquisition of the track was Kentucky trainer Wesley Ward, who would rather stay home than chase points on the road. Ward did just that with Like the King, who won the Jeff Ruby and goes next in the Kentucky Derby.

“Them buying the track certainly is great for me, because it’s my winter home track,” Ward said. “I’ll keep them right here and under my thumb rather than going to another jurisdiction.”

Ward is based in Keeneland’s Rice Road barn area throughout the year, even as other outfits decamp to warmer climates in Florida, New Orleans, or elsewhere for the winter months. Ward also owns a Kentucky farm adjacent to the track, where he foals out his broodmares, raises his young stock, and breaks his yearlings. He thus has access to Keeneland’s Polytrack training track, immune to winter weather, throughout the season, and Turfway Park, with its Tapeta surface, is a relatively short drive up the highway for breezes and winter racing.

In addition to keeping access to those surfaces and to the racing at Turfway, Ward feels that cutting down on travel for his horses and allowing them to experience the natural progression of the seasons has merits.

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“I just think it’s easier on the horse,” he said. “I mean, I really have had a lot of success with horses staying through the winter here. They get all woolly, and now, this time of year, they start shedding. It’s just sort of a natural progression. Especially my yearlings to 2-year-olds [after we] break them here. The horses coming up from Florida have a bit of an edge at first, but I think midsummer, there’s a little bit more longevity to them.”