Ward juveniles work for Royal Ascot; Ground Transport set
for Brooklyn
Trainer Wesley Ward sent out four Royal Ascot hopefuls Monday morning at
Arlington International Racecourse for four-furlong drills over the
world-renowned turf course. Gatewood Bell’s Spanish Pipedream and Hootenanny —
whom Ward owns in parternship with Ken Donworth and Ben McElroy — worked in
tandem, while Ten Broeck Farm’s To Be Determined and Hat Creek Racing’s Lindy
completed the second team.
Last year, Ward used prep work over the local grass for No Nay Never en route
to victory in the Norfolk Stakes and subsequent glory in the Prix Morny at
Deauville. Ward is also the only American conditioner to win a stakes on the
Royal Ascot card — and has done so three times. In addition to No Nay Never
last year, he also annexed two fixtures on the 2009 card: the Queen Mary with
Jealous Again and Windsor Castle Stakes with Strike the Tiger.
In Monday morning’s works, Spanish Pipedream (a daughter of No Nay Never’s
sire Scat Daddy) and Hootenanny (from the highly anticipated first crop of
Quality Road) drilled in :48 4/5 and :49, respectively. Hootenanny is exiting a
disappointing third-place run as the 3-5 favorite in Pimlico’s Rollicking
Stakes.
“Hootenanny is talented. Early on when he was breezing at Palm Meadows, he
was good. Then, when we put him on the grass he stepped up his game,” Ward
explained. “I talked myself into running him (at Pimlico), but I probably
shouldn’t have. I think he’ll be a quality stakes horse on grass or Poly.”
Spanish Pipedream broke her maiden at Keeneland April 24 and has a steady
stream of works. Owned by a partnership that includes Denver Bronco Wes Welker,
the filly — like Lindy and To Be Determined — is highly regarded by Ward.
“They’re not quite No Nay Never, but they really do stack up. I think Spanish
Pipedream is definitely better than Sweet Emma Rose and possibly as good or
better than Jealous Again,” Ward explained.
Sweet Emma Rose was a solid second in last year’s Queen Mary.
In the second set, To Be Determined — the only maiden of the foursome —
outworked Presque Isle Downs maiden winner Lindy by three lengths. The duo
received times of :48 and :48 3/5, respectively. To Be Determined, under leading
Arlington rider Florent Geroux, collared her rival turning for home and drew off
impressively.
Despite being bested by her stablemate, Lindy galloped out impressively past
her stablemate, getting six furlongs in 1:14 under Sheldon Russell. The daughter
of the War Front wore a blinder on her right eye.
With four impressive youngsters stacked up and five stakes for juveniles at
the Royal Ascot meeting — including three Group 2 fixtures, the Coventry, Queen
Mary and Norfolk — Ward will have his work cut out for him when it comes to
deciding who goes where.
“We are going to sort through everything here soon and see what fits best for
each horse,” he concluded. “We’ll see how we can divide and conquer.”
In other news from Arlington, the Mike Stidham-trained Ground Transport will
attempt to do what his father Big Brown could not in 2008 — win at 1 1/2 miles
on Belmont Day. Except, of course, that Ground Transport is a four-year-old and
thus will be competing in the Grade 2, $500,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont
Park on the undercard of the centerpiece event.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds et al, the dark bay has been burning up the
track the last two weeks at Arlington International Racecourse as he prepares
for his return to the Elmont, New York, oval. On Saturday morning, he
hammered five furlongs in a bullet :59 4/5 and on May 16 he went four furlongs
in :47 4/5. Last out, the grandson of endurance influence Broad Brush won the
10-furlong Drosselmeyer Stakes at “Big Sandy” as a prep for the event.
“He’s training really well and we’re on target for the Brooklyn,” Stidham
said. “The (Drosselmeyer) was a prep. We didn’t realize how far he would
go. It was not obvious that he could get 10 furlongs, but he seemed to like the
distance. Johnny Velazquez, when he got off him after riding him for the first
time, said he couldn’t wait to ride him going longer.”
Ground Transport has won three of his last four races, including two stakes.
In addition to the aforementioned Drosselmeyer, he was a notable wire-to-wire
winner — drawing off by 3 1/4 lengths — in the Harrison E. Johnson Memorial
Stakes at Laurel Park. Since adopting a front-running style, he has accumulated
a 7-3-3-0 record.
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