Trainer Wesley Ward breezed a pair of horses Tuesday morning at Churchill
The Ward-owned Shrinking Violet (Congaree) went five furlongs over the turf
Shrinking Violet will return from a four-month layoff in the $100,000 The
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Ward, reached at his home base of Gulfstream Park, said he got glowing
reports on his workers in Kentucky.
“Shrinking Violet looked very good, as well as Emotional Kitten,” Ward said.
“They’re all set and doing great. We’re very excited.”
The Very One will be Shrinking Violet’s first start since winning the about 6
1/2-furlong Monrovia (G2) January 4 on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita.
She emerged from the race with a shoulder issue that took time to heal, but the
five-year-old has been training well in recent weeks.
“I kind of had to do nothing with her for a while, brought her back slow and
breezed her easy, but she still wasn’t quite right so I gave her another month
off,” Ward said. “Now she’s just breathing fire again and feeling her oats, so
we’re looking for a big effort.”
Ward felt 2013 Mrs. Revere (G2) winner Emotional Kitten was “immensely”
compromised by soft turf in her last start, where she was never a threat in
finishing sixth as the favorite in a one-mile allowance April 9 at Keeneland.
“She’s always kind of liked her feet rattling underneath her,” Ward said.
“That race came up really, really salty. There were a lot of nice stakes horses
in the race. To go on a surface that she just didn’t prefer, I probably should
have come out of the race and looked for another spot, but I went ahead with it
and suffered the consequences.”
Also on Saturday, City of Vengeance (City Zip) will run for Ward in the
$100,000 Chick Lang for three-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track.
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