Ward planning Ascot strategy

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s that time of year – time for trainer Wesley Ward to dust off his ascot, tux, and tails and get ready for a trip to England for the Royal Ascot meeting.

Ward is the only American trainer to have won a Royal Ascot race, and he added to his groundbreaking pair of victories there in 2009 when No Nay Never won the Norfolk Stakes last June.

Ward has four 2-year-olds lined up for the 2014 Royal Ascot meet, and all breezed a half-mile on turf Monday at Arlington. The filly Spanish Pipedream (48.80 seconds) and the colt Hootenanny (49) worked in company, as did two other fillies, To Be Determined (48) and Lindy (48.60).

Spanish Pipedream, a 4 1/4-length debut winner in April at Keeneland, is being pointed to the Queen Mary Stakes, while Hootenanny, who won his Keeneland debut by the same margin but most recently finished third in the Rollicking Stakes at Pimlico, is intended for the Coventry Stakes. To Be Determined, third debuting on Churchill dirt May 9, is pointing to the Windsor Castle, and Lindy, a May 13 debut winner at Presque Isle Downs, has the Albany Stakes as a target.

“I’ve been over there enough now that I know which horses suit which races,” Ward said. “I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think I had a chance to win. It’s a long way to go to get beat.”

The Royal Ascot meet runs from Tuesday through Saturday, June 17-21, and Ward’s quartet is scheduled to ship June 12, but all must continue training to Ward’s total satisfaction to make the trip. “They still have to work a couple more times. You have to go over there without any questions,” he said.

Ward also will closely monitor turf conditions and the weather forecast. In 2010, he scratched all his Ascot runners because of rain after shipping overseas, and in 2011, another wet June at Ascot, Ward called off a trip before his horses departed the United States.

“If we must use our umbrellas, we aren’t going,” Ward said.

Ward said he plans to use an American-based jockey but hasn’t decided which one.

No Nay Never on sidelines

No Nay Never, meanwhile, hasn’t raced since finishing second in the Swale Stakes on March 1 at Gulfstream Park and won’t see action again at least until the Saratoga meet, Ward said.

“He had a few little minor things that, with a little time now, he’ll be completely over,” Ward said.

No Nay Never won the Group 2 Norfolk at Ascot and followed up with a landmark victory in the Group 1 Prix Morny last August in France. Ward mentioned a Breeders’ Cup start as a possible late-season goal, with another European trip in the fall not entirely ruled out.