Mae Never No has good chance to give Ward a second Tremont win

When the historic Tremont Stakes was resurrected in 2014 after several years on hiatus, Wesley Ward, known for his prowess with juveniles, promptly won the comeback edition with Bessie’s Boy.

Ward looks to add another Tremont trophy when he saddles the filly Mae Never No to take on the boys in Friday’s renewal of the $150,000 stakes.

Mae Never No is from the first crop of Group 1-winning juvenile No Nay Never, a Scat Daddy horse whom Ward trained throughout his career. Mae Never No was an impressive debut winner May 3 at Belmont Park, winning a five-furlong maiden special weight by 1 1/4 lengths with a Beyer Speed Figure of 72, the top number in this field. She was flattered when the runner-up, Ward-trained stablemate Abyssinian, promptly won next out.

Jockey Gary Stevens has the return engagement on Mae Never No, who drew outside in the field of seven.

“Gary will come back to ride her,” Ward said. “He was impressed so much with her that he flew out to work her last week. She worked very, very well.”

Mae Never No is one of four members of the field who own a win at five furlongs in advance of the 5 1/2-furlong Tremont. The others are Outshine, Social Fan, and Sir Truebadour.

Outshine and Social Fan are among the three Todd Pletcher starters. Pletcher has saddled five Tremont winners.

Outshine keeps John Velazquez aboard after his maiden win on a sloppy track May 17 at Belmont. Social Fan also won a maiden race at Belmont, wiring the field by 2 1/2 lengths in his second start May 4. Pletcher’s other entrant is Sombeyay, a 6 1/4-length debut winner at Gulfstream.

“All three are doing well coming into this race,” Pletcher said. “Like a lot of these 2-year-old races, everybody’s sort of in the same boat coming from a maiden win into a stakes race, but they each seemed to break their maidens the way you want to see, and we’ll see how they’ve continued to develop.”

Sir Truebadour earned a Beyer of 70 when he rolled wire to wire for a four-length maiden win in the slop last month at Churchill Downs for Steve Asmussen. Debut winners Our Braintrust and Girls Love Me complete the field.