American trainer Wesley Ward has assembled a formidable team of up to six juveniles as he bids to add to his tally of three Royal Ascot winners.
Ward became the first US-based handler to saddle a winner at the summer showpiece meeting in 2009, recording a landmark double with Strike The Tiger in the Windsor Castle Stakes and Jealous Again in the Queen Mary.
He struck again 12 months ago as No Nay Never ran away with the Norfolk Stakes and is confident of more big-race success next week.
Ward has carefully divided his latest raiding party, with leading jockey Victor Espinoza booked for the rides.
The stable’s first runner will be two-year-old colt Hootenanny, who will start in the Windsor Castle Stakes on Tuesday.
“He won a maiden race at Keeneland with a really excellent performance and then I ran him on the dirt at Pimlico,” Ward said.
“I think he will be running in one of the weaker two-year-old races, being a Listed race, so he can get the week off to a good start and leave everybody smiling.”
Ward is particularly keen on the chances of two of the fillies he plans to send on the trans-Atlantic mission, with the team booked on a direct flight from Indianapolis in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“Spanish Pipedream won a maiden at Keeneland and will go for the Queen Mary. I think she’s a very talented filly,” said Ward.
“Sunset Glow won a really beautiful race at Belmont on Friday, she’s a really hardy filly and she will go for the Albany Stakes.”
Ward is ready to let another filly, To Be Determined, take on the colts in the Norfolk Stakes.
The trainer could also be double-handed in the Chesham Stakes with the unraced Cordero and Crown The Kitten.
