Ward playing to win with strong trio in BC Juvenile Turf Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Horse trainers are humans, too. Wesley Ward can be as robotic as the next guy devoting 100 hours to his workweek, but he’ll also take time to laugh and joke or to smell the flowers, as they say.

In fact, Ward wasn’t even here at Santa Anita in 2014, when his six Breeders’ Cup starters recorded two wins, three seconds, and one third. He was at home in Florida, watching the races on his phone while his son Riley was competing in a high school track meet.

“State championships,” said Ward, underlining the importance.

A 51-year-old father of three, Ward tries to achieve a work-life balance that can be awfully tricky when you’re in charge of well more than 100 horses. Splitting his time mostly between Florida and Kentucky – although he’s eligible to turn up at a racetrack near you without notice – Ward exudes a magnetic persona that has earned him dozens of clients, hundreds of friends, and thousands of fans.

Last Saturday at Keeneland, Ward could be seen playfully coaxing the TV-famous attorney John Morgan to the forefront of the winner’s circle after a 2-year-old named Maximiliano won a maiden-special race. Morgan obscured full view of the colt after being intentionally moved out of place by Ward as the photo was snapped. Everybody laughed.

“John grew up in Lexington,” Ward explained later of Morgan, whose Morgan & Morgan law firm has become well known for its “For the People” slogan.

“He said his family was from the other side of the tracks before his family moved down to Florida. He said he always wished and hoped he’d have one good enough to win at Keeneland. As good as he can tell a story, when we got to the winner’s circle, he was speechless. It was nice to see.”

It’s that sort of empathy and personal touch that makes Ward an easy root-for. Ward will return to his old stomping grounds at Santa Anita to run a trio of 2-year-olds Friday in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, the first of 14 BC events during the two-day event. Ward will saddle Four Wheel Drive, an unbeaten American Pharoah colt coming off a three-length victory in the Futurity at Belmont, and a pair of fillies, Kimari and Cambria. All three were scheduled for final pre-race breezes Sunday over the Keeneland turf prior to boarding an equine charter flight Monday.

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Four Wheel Drive and Kimari are expected to vie for favoritism in a full gate of 12 in the five-furlong race. Kimari has been outstanding in four career starts, including in a last-to-first triumph under Mike Smith in her last start, the Indian Summer at Keeneland.

“She’s a real smart filly, but she has had some problems breaking from the gate,” said Ward. “I kind of anticipated her breaking slow [in the Indian Summer], and that’s why I brought Mike in. I told him, ‘If she doesn’t break very well, just sit and let the race come to you,’ and he did. I’d thought about just training her into the Breeders’ Cup, but the way it worked out, she’s perfect right now. I think it’s sharpened her up just right.”

Ward also has a fourth pre-entry in the Juvenile Turf Sprint in Karak, but the filly is far down the preference list and surely will be excluded. His Juvenile Turf Sprint runners are the only BC starters this year for Ward, who has a 2-5-7 record from 37 BC starts.

Winning the Juvenile Turf Sprint would only further enhance Ward’s reputation for having a special way with 2-year-olds. As much as he prefers to be known as a top-class conditioner with any type of horse – one of his 2014 BC winners, in fact, was 5-year-old Judy the Beauty in the Filly and Mare Sprint – there is no escaping what the public thinks.

“It’s been a way in with major clients, if nothing else,” said Ward. “One day maybe we’ll win the Derby or the [BC] Classic and people will ease up. But overall, yes, it’s been good for my career.”

Born into a racing family in Washington state, Ward won the 1984 Eclipse Award for top apprentice rider before growing too big. He began his solo training career in California in 1991, stabling for years at Santa Anita and Golden Gate, before he migrated in the mid-2000s to the East Coast. He is widely credited with pioneering the growing trend of Americans competing at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England every June.

His is a unique legacy, and one that he takes seriously, even when looking after his kids or messing with clients. He is returning to California on a mission.

“I’ve done this long enough now that, when you aim, you really want to hit the target,” he said. “We’ve got the target in our sights.”