Ward's Royal Ascot brigade could feature seven runners
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Wesley Ward could have seven chances next month to win his first Royal Ascot race since 2021.
Ward pioneered sending American horses to Royal Ascot, winning his first race there in 2009 long before the June meeting became a fashionable destination for a wide swath of American horse people. Ward has won a dozen Royal Ascot races but has gone winless since the 3-year-old filly Campanelle won the Commonwealth Cup five summers ago.
In 2020, Campanelle won the Queen Mary Stakes, and that’s the focus of Ward’s overseas excursion this year. Ward could have as many as five runners in the Queen Mary, a Group 2 run over a straight five furlongs and restricted to juvenile fillies, though Ward, on Wednesday, emphasized that his contingent of prospective runners still could change.
Ruiva, a sharp debut winner over a sloppy Churchill Downs track, would only run in the Queen Mary on June 17, Ward said, if it looked like her target race, the five-furlong Norfolk on June 18, were going to be contested over a rain-softened course.
Fanshell Beach, an easy debut winner April 28 at Churchill, could run either in the Queen Mary or the Norfolk, with Ez Tina, Through the Years, and Shining Moment all currently penciled in for the Queen Mary.
Ez Tina debuted May 17 over Woodbine’s Tapeta Footings surface, went straight to the lead, and easily won a five-furlong dash with a flashy 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
Through the Years and Shining Moment each have made two turf starts, with both fillies winning a maiden sprint in their second out, Through the Years on May 14 at Aqueduct, Shining Moment one week later at Churchill.
The 3-year-old colt Outfielder goes in the Group 1 Commonwealth over a straight six furlongs on June 19. Outfielder has four wins from six starts and finally, in the William Walker Stakes on May 19 at Churchill, ran back to his fine showing last summer in the Group 1 Prix Morny.
Three-year-old Bacio returned from a winter break and easily captured a second-level turf sprint allowance April 28 at Churchill, and Ward said he’s aimed at the listed Palace of Holyroodhouse, another six-furlong sprint on the June 19 program.
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